Top 500 James Patterson Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Assume nothing, question everything.”

— James Patterson

2. “There’s no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books.”

— James Patterson

Featured in: Encouraging Quotes for Students, Reading Quotes, Quotes About Children, Hate Quotes

3. “You’re my best friend, my first and only love, and the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

— James Patterson

4. “Better readers are better thinkers.”

— James Patterson

5. “Be calm. Be Zen. You are Buddha.”

— James Patterson

6. “I never miss a good chance to shut up.”

— James Patterson

7. “If you’re not reading – with your heart as well as your brain – you will be one stupid grown up. Even worse, you’ll be missing out on one of the best experiences you can possibly have. Nowhere will you meet more interesting people than in books.”

— James Patterson

Featured in: Quotes About Books And Reading, Reading Quotes

8. “You see, one of the best things about reading is that you’ll always have something to think about when you’re not reading.”

— James Patterson

Featured in: Reading Quotes

9. “Your integrity, your dignity, your honor – they aren’t for sale. Not ever. Not to anyone.”

— James Patterson

10. “Life is a test. It’s all a test. Sometimes you have to get through it, and then later everything makes more sense.”

— James Patterson

11. “Stop trying to write sentences and start trying to write stories.”

— James Patterson

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

12. “Keep this in mind: there are no coincidences.”

— James Patterson

13. “I write larger than life. It’s what I do.”

— James Patterson

14. “Everything I loved was taken away from me, and I did not die.”

— James Patterson

15. “Because what’s worse than knowing you want something, besides knowing you can never have it?”

— James Patterson

16. “Beware the anger of a patient man.”

— James Patterson

17. “Denial is not just a river in Egypt.”

— James Patterson

18. “But what is life if you don’t live it?”

— James Patterson

19. “We is always so much better than I.”

— James Patterson

20. “Father Alfred D’Souza. D’Souza had written: “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

— James Patterson

21. “When I write I pretend I’m telling a story to someone in the room and I don’t want them to get up until I’m finished.”

— James Patterson

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

22. “Justice doesn’t necessarily make the world a better place. Compassion always does.”

— James Patterson

23. “Knowledge is a terrible burden. It may help you, but it might also destroy you.”

— James Patterson

24. “The weird, weird thing about devastating loss is that life actually goes on. When you’re faced with a tragedy, a loss so huge that you have no idea how you can live through it, somehow, the world keeps turning, the seconds keep ticking.”

— James Patterson

25. “Sometimes being a leader isn’t about winning. Sometimes it’s about doing what’s right, instead of what’s powerful.”

— James Patterson

26. “I don’t damsel well. Distress, I can do. Damseling? Not so much.”

— James Patterson

27. “The hardest part about parenting is when I have to be The Dad – aka the Fun-Sucker – as opposed to being a friend.”

— James Patterson

Featured in: Fun Quotes

28. “Life is fun. Enjoy the ride!”

— James Patterson

29. “The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective.”

— James Patterson

30. “I’ve been looking for you a long time, I just didn’t know it. But now I do.”

— James Patterson

31. “Men suck, even imaginary ones.”

— James Patterson

32. “If I’m writing and a chapter isn’t coming, I just move ahead.”

— James Patterson

33. “A lot of times you get people writing wonderful sentences and paragraphs, and they fall in love with their prose style, but the stories really aren’t that terrific.”

— James Patterson

34. “Half the time when brothers wrestle, it’s just an excuse to hug each other.”

— James Patterson

35. “It’s all right to put the weight of the world on your shoulders sometimes, if you know how to take it off.”

— James Patterson

36. “It’s so strange. Everything can be going alone just great, and then one day, whack, you’re blindsided – a lousy, crammy blow you didn’t see coming.”

— James Patterson

37. “Home is wherever we all are together.”

— James Patterson

38. “Well, that’s an evil smile...”

— James Patterson

Featured in: Smile Quotes

39. “You’re just here for the ride. For the incredible, indescribable Maximum Ride. – Max’s Voice.”

— James Patterson

40. “Being the leader means you have to make life or death decisions sometimes.”

— James Patterson

41. “Popcorn for breakfast! Why not? It’s a grain. It’s like grits, but with high self-esteem.”

— James Patterson

42. “The weird, weird thing about devastating loss is tha life actually goes on.”

— James Patterson

43. “This time I wouldn’t forget him, because I couldn’t ever forgive him – for breaking my heart twice.”

— James Patterson

44. “Reading is not work, not a chore, not a drudgery; reading is the most joyful thing, yet, in the world.”

— James Patterson

Featured in: Reading Quotes

45. “I’m not Stubborn; I’m right!”

— James Patterson

46. “Do you like to eat things? -I love eating. I list it as a hobby.”

— James Patterson

47. “Have you been playing in toxic waste lately?”

— James Patterson

48. “Everybody’s a critic these days.”

— James Patterson

49. “But remember that you have to move on, somehow. You just pick your head up and stare at something beautiful like the sky, or the ocean, and you move the hell on.”

— James Patterson

50. “People always remember the worst day of their lifes. It becomes a part of them forever.”

— James Patterson