Scott noticed Will staring at it and grinned. "Like what you see?" Woolsey Scott asked. "I do enjoy these surprise midnight declarations. Go along, have at it.

Black hair and blue eyes are my favorite combination.

I don't think I ever intended specifically to write for the young adult market. It's just that when the idea for City of Bones came to me, I knew the main characters were teenagers. In my mind they were just very clearly the ages they were, which turned out to mean it was a YA novel.

It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them.

Don't screech like that. You'll wake the dead.

You could know a man not by what his friends said about him, but by how he treated his servants.

Will rolled up his sleeves. "We'll probably have to knock down the door--" "Or," said Jem, reaching out and giving the knob a twist, "not." The door swung open onto a rectangle of darkness. "Now, that's simply laziness," said Will.