Top 140 Stieg Larsson Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Mind Your Own Business.”

— Stieg Larsson

2. “Armageddon was yesterday, today we have a serious problem.”

— Stieg Larsson

3. “Friendship- my definition- is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don’t have trust, the friendship will crumble.”

— Stieg Larsson

4. “Impulsive actions led to trouble, and trouble could have unpleasant consequences.”

— Stieg Larsson

5. “Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.”

— Stieg Larsson

6. “But if you want to win, you’re going to have to fight.”

— Stieg Larsson

7. “Don’t ever fight with Lisbeth Salander. Her attitude towards the rest of the world is that if someone threatens her with a gun, she’ll get a bigger gun.”

— Stieg Larsson

8. “To exact revenge for yourself or your friends is not only a right, it’s an absolute duty.”

— Stieg Larsson

9. “Nobody can avoid falling in love. They might want to deny it, but friendship is probably the most common form of love.”

— Stieg Larsson

10. “Always retain the ability to walk away, without sentimentality, from a situation that felt unmanageable. That was a basic rule of survival. Don’t lift a finger for a lost cause.”

— Stieg Larsson

11. “He’s pulling the load of an ox and walking on eggshells.”

— Stieg Larsson

12. “There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility.”

— Stieg Larsson

13. “It doesn’t matter how good the enemy’s weapons are. If he can’t see you, he can’t hit you. Cover, cover, cover. Make sure you’re never exposed.”

— Stieg Larsson

14. “Isn’t it fascinating that Nazis always manage to adopt the word freedom?”

— Stieg Larsson

15. “Don’t exaggerate. Just give your natural bitchy selves full rein.”

— Stieg Larsson

16. “A journalist finds out things by asking questions of people who know.”

— Stieg Larsson

17. “If love is liking someone an awful lot, then I suppose I’m in love with several people.”

— Stieg Larsson

18. “Then I discovered that being related is no guarantee of love!”

— Stieg Larsson

19. “I will write a couple of books and become a millionaire.”

— Stieg Larsson

20. “Candy within reach and then I have to go on a diet.”

— Stieg Larsson

21. “What she had realised was that love was that moment when your heart was about to burst.”

— Stieg Larsson

22. “You walk around feeling like a teenager and immortal your whole life, and suddenly there isn’t much time left.”

— Stieg Larsson

23. “There were not so many physical threats that could not be countered with a decent hammer.”

— Stieg Larsson

24. “It proved once again the theory that no security system is a match for a stupid employee.”

— Stieg Larsson

25. “Nunca se debe subestimar un presentimiento.”

— Stieg Larsson

26. “The whole organization seemed to be in free fall, indulging in a collective fantasy in which experienced colleagues refused to admit that their every movement, every decision that was made and implemented, only led them one step closer to the abyss.”

— Stieg Larsson

27. “There was a whole army of people who seemed not to have anything better to do than to try to disrupt her life, and, if they were given the opportunity, to correct the way she had chosen to live it.”

— Stieg Larsson

28. “I have been threatened occasionally. But that happens to everybody who is writing this kind of things. Threats will come without fail. It might happen to the most ‘innocent’ texts. If it gets too much we call the police.”

— Stieg Larsson

29. “She was perfectly content as long as people left her in peace.”

— Stieg Larsson

30. “As the situation developed, the futility of attempting suicide in the middle of a hospital became apparent.”

— Stieg Larsson

31. “Salander never forgets an injustice, and by nature she was anything but forgiving.”

— Stieg Larsson

32. “Oppurtunity Makes the Thief.”

— Stieg Larsson

33. “Consider this a fair warning.”

— Stieg Larsson

34. “To Sally, who showed me the benefits of the sport of golf.”

— Stieg Larsson

35. “Everyone has secrets. It’s just a matter of finding out what they are.”

— Stieg Larsson

36. “Martin was dafter than a syphilitic polecat – where do I get these metaphors from?”

— Stieg Larsson

37. “You’re an entropic chaos factor.”

— Stieg Larsson

38. “No, I don’t believe in God, but I respect the fact that you do. Everyone has to have something to believe in.”

— Stieg Larsson

39. “Taking away a person’s control of her own life – meaning her bank account – is one of the greatest infringements a democracy can impose, especially when it applies to young people. It is an infringement even if the intent may be perceived as benign and socially valid.”

— Stieg Larsson

40. “As a girl, she was a legal prey, especially if she was dressed in a worn black leather jacket and had pierced eyebrows, tattoos, and zero social status.”

— Stieg Larsson

41. “It did no good to cry, she had learned that early on. She had also learned that every time she tried to make someone aware of something in her life, the situation just got worse. Consequently it was up to her to solve her problems by herself, using whatever methods she deemed necessary.”

— Stieg Larsson

42. “Nobody was innocent. There were only varying degrees of responsibility.”

— Stieg Larsson

43. “Her absence had felt like torture – almost a form of personal punishment. He had nobody to discuss his feelings with, and for the first time he realised with appalling clarity what a destructive hold she had over him.”

— Stieg Larsson

44. “He comes off a little like Practical Pig in The Three Little Pigs.”

— Stieg Larsson

45. “I’m unhappy. I don’t want to fall in love with you. It’ll hurt far too much when it’s over.”

— Stieg Larsson

46. “We need to have a talk on the subject of what’s yours and what’s mine.”

— Stieg Larsson

47. “I’m aware of what you’ve done for me, and I’m not ungrateful. I appreciate that you actually showed yourself to be greater than your prejudices and have given me a chance here. But I don’t want you for my lover, and you’re not my father.”

— Stieg Larsson

48. “Salander was the woman who hated men who hate women.”

— Stieg Larsson

49. “She’s married. I’m more a friend and occasional lover.”

— Stieg Larsson

50. “Those pointless equations, to which no solution exists, are called absurdities.”

— Stieg Larsson