John Boyne

“One single syllable of intimacy and the world is put to rights.”

— John Boyne

“Bruno was jealous, he had to wear stupid pants en shoes while the boys at the other side of the fence were…

— John Boyne

We all are [normal]. Their idea of normal just happens to be different to some other people's idea of normal. But this…

— John Boyne

“Maybe there were no villains in my mother’s story at all. Just men and women, trying to do their best by each…

— John Boyne

I think that books for young people should have serious and important themes, they shouldn't be trivial. So the books I write,…

— John Boyne

Just because a man glances up at the sky at night does not make him an astronomer, you know.

— John Boyne

“Every man is afraid of women as far as I can see,” said Julian, displaying an understanding of the universe far beyond…

— John Boyne

I don't buy into the idea that an Irish writer should write about Ireland, or a gay writer should write about being…

— John Boyne

“For a moment he considered running across the platform to tell people about the empty seats in the carriage, but he decided…

— John Boyne

I move between the two: I write an adult novel, and then I write a children's book. I quite enjoy that. It's…

— John Boyne

“Pavel is not a doctor any more, Bruno' said Maria quietly. 'But he was. In another life. Before he came here”

— John Boyne

You’re my best friend, Shmuel,’ he said. ‘My best friend for life.

— John Boyne

“Astonishing how everyone is willing to go abroad to fight for the rights of foreigners while having such little concern for those…

— John Boyne

Bruno opened his eyes in wonder at the things he saw. In his imagination he had tough that all the huts were…

— John Boyne

I wrote my first book at 20, but my whole focus from about the age of 12 was to be a writer.

— John Boyne

“I think perhaps the adults we become are formed in childhood and there's no way around it.”

— John Boyne

There is cruelty in the world Eliza, you can see that, can't you? It surrounds us. It breathes on us. We spend…

— John Boyne

Do you see the irony at all, Tristan?’ I stare at him and shake my head. He seems determined not to speak…

— John Boyne

Very slowly he turned his head back to look at Shmuel, who wasn't crying anymore, merely staring at the floor and looking…

— John Boyne

He suddenly became convinced that if he didn’t do something sensible, something to put his mind to some use, then before he…

— John Boyne

Children's authors don't talk down or patronise their younger readers.

— John Boyne

“line came into my mind, something that Hannah Arendt had once said about the poet Auden: that life had manifested the heart’s…

— John Boyne

War today is such a more visible thing. We see it on television, on CNN. In 1914, war was a concept. There…

— John Boyne

The first thing he noticed was how quiet it was. This was nothing like the kind of quiet he heard when he…

— John Boyne

I hope for so much from every book I read. And time and again, I find myself disappointed. I look across my…

— John Boyne