Patricia Cornwell Quotes

"Survival was my only hope, success my only revenge."

"My fans want me to talk to them. And even if they want to be critical, I want to hear what they've got to say."

"I believe the root of all evil is abuse of power."

"I'm very, very sensitive to pain and to people who suffer."

"I didn't invent forensic science and medicine. I just was one of the first people to recognize how interesting it is."

"Being with someone who is smart and gives good advice adds tremendously wonderful elements to your life."

"The greatest gift is our own eyes, sense of smell, and abilities to deduce."

"When I was in second grade, my mother moved from Miami to this evangelical conservative environment in western North Carolina, two miles down the road from Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth."

"In my forties, my optimism was boundless. I had really good health and tremendous success which allowed me to do anything I wanted."

"Night fell clean and cold in Dublin, and wind moaned beyond my room as if a million pipes played the air."

"On the last morning of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War, I built a fire and sat facing a window of darkness where at sunrise I knew I would find the sea."

"Even if you are a best-seller you feel insecure because it is all so unpredictable."

"I'm always surprised when large numbers of people buy my books."

"I wouldn't want to donate my body for scientific study."

"I find it difficult to attend autopsies. Especially the smells."

"I've always believed human blood is red because it really needs to draw attention to itself."

"I've never taken a scalpel to a dead body."

"I dropped chemistry. I practically blew up the lab in college."

"The biggest risk with a series that goes on this long is that you'll get bored with the character."

"In the first person, the readers feel smart, like it's them solving the case."

"But when I was a little kid, I was always writing stories and illustrating little books that I would create."

"That's why I think the 'Scarpetta' series has worked so well because people like spending time with this character."

"First of all, it does not deter crime, the death penalty."

"I am a journalist."

"My friends call me Miss Worst Case Scenario."

"If everybody, every day, would try to do one thing that pulls them beyond themselves the world will start being a better place."

"I've had people turn up to book signings with knives, with guns."

"I've been stalked."

"Obviously people read the books in order to be entertained."

"If you chomp down too hard on my work, you're going to break your teeth."