Harlan Coben Quotes

Powerful Harlan Coben for Daily Growth

About Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben, born on February 4, 1962, is an acclaimed American author known for his gripping psychological thrillers. Growing up in New Jersey, Coben's interest in storytelling was sparked at an early age through his love for comic books and television shows. He pursued this passion by earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College in 1984. Post-graduation, Coben embarked on a career in television production, working as a writer and producer for popular shows like America's Funniest Home Videos and The Golden Palace. However, the desire to tell his own stories led him to writing novels. His debut book, 'Play Dead,' was published in 1990, but it was his fifth novel, 'Tell No One,' that catapulted him into global fame in 2001. 'Tell No One' became an international bestseller and was later adapted into a successful film. This success opened doors for more projects, leading to adaptations of several of Coben's works, including 'The Stranger' and 'Safe.' Coben is recognized for his unique blend of suspense, intrigue, and character-driven narratives. His books often revolve around ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, a theme inspired by his observation of the complexities of human nature. Coben's major works include the Myron Bolitar series, Standalone thrillers, and the Mickey Bolitar series for young adults. Today, Harlan Coben continues to captivate audiences worldwide with his gripping narratives, earning him multiple awards and accolades. His books have been translated into over 40 languages, solidifying his status as a global literary phenomenon.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off."

This quote suggests that seeking the truth, although essential for personal growth and freedom, can initially provoke anger, frustration, or discomfort as one confronts information or circumstances that challenge their beliefs or comfort zones. It underscores the importance of embracing the challenging process of truth-seeking as a means to eventual enlightenment and liberation.

"Sometimes the lies we tell ourselves are more damaging than the lies others tell about us."

This quote suggests that self-deception, or the lies we tell ourselves, can be as harmful as the falsehoods others may spread about us. It underscores the importance of honesty with oneself and encourages introspection to avoid unnecessary suffering caused by self-delusion. In other words, understanding one's own flaws, weaknesses, or mistakes is crucial in personal growth and overall wellbeing.

"I believe in second chances, but I also believe there comes a time when second chances run out."

This quote by Harlan Coben underscores the idea that while opportunities for redemption and change should be granted, there exists a limit to this leniency. The concept of second chances implies forgiveness and an opportunity to correct past mistakes. However, if an individual continually misuses these chances without demonstrating significant growth or change, eventually, they may have exhausted their opportunities for redemption. The quote serves as a reminder that while mercy and compassion are important, accountability and personal responsibility must also be upheld.

"Everyone has secrets. The greater the secret, the more ordinary the person."

This quote suggests that even seemingly ordinary individuals harbor significant secrets. It implies that the complexity or intensity of a person's hidden truths does not correlate with their outward appearance or perceived ordinary nature. Essentially, Coben is saying that everyone has depth and complexity, as evidenced by the existence of personal secrets. This perspective can be insightful in understanding human behavior and relationships, encouraging empathy and acceptance for others, and fostering a more compassionate worldview.

"Truth isn't always what you want it to be... or need it to be."

This quote suggests that truth is not subjective, meaning it is not solely dependent on one's desires or needs. Sometimes, the truth may align with our wishes, but other times, it may contradict them, revealing facts that we might find uncomfortable or unwelcome. It underscores the importance of seeking and accepting the authenticity of situations, even when it challenges our beliefs or expectations.

The preparation for building a series of thrillers based on a single character is kind of like the preparation for becoming a parent: The best part is the idea - wink, wink.

- Harlan Coben

Parent, Becoming, Based, Wink

In real life, coincidences happen all the time. In novels, they are leapt upon with fury.

- Harlan Coben

Happen, Coincidences, Fury

I am, after all, a thriller writer. I routinely delve into the darkest chambers of the human heart. I've written about murder, kidnapping, depravity, horror, violence, and disfigurement.

- Harlan Coben

Horror, About, Chambers, Kidnapping

Being a parent is not for the faint of heart. I may joke about knowing fear, but the fact is, the first time I ever knew real fear was the day Charlotte, my first child, was born. Suddenly there is someone in the world you care about more than anything.

- Harlan Coben

Parent, Fact, About, Joke

I live in the suburbs, the final battleground of the American dream, where people get married and have kids and try to scratch out a happy life for themselves.

- Harlan Coben

Happy, American, Suburbs, Scratch

The state of New Jersey is really two places - terrible cities and wonderful suburbs. I live in the suburbs, the final battleground of the American dream, where people get married and have kids and try to scratch out a happy life for themselves. It's very romantic in that way, but a bit naive. I like to play with that in my work.

- Harlan Coben

Play, Very, Suburbs, Scratch

When I was seventeen, I worked as a counsellor at a co-ed sleep-away camp for eight weeks. I loved it but it could be harrowing - it was far too much responsibility for someone my age.

- Harlan Coben

Too Much, Could, Weeks, Harrowing

You know, people call mystery novels or thrillers 'puzzles.' I never understood that, because when I buy a puzzle, I already know what it is. It's on the box. And even if I don't, if it's a 5,000-piece puzzle of the 'Mona Lisa', it's not like I put the last piece in and go, 'I had no idea it's the 'Mona Lisa'!'

- Harlan Coben

Box, Idea, Buy, Puzzles

I am very lucky that I get to tell stories for a living. I love being able to grab people's attention, to keep them turning the pages, to make them stay awake all night. I want to stir the pulse, yes, but also to stir the heart. I hope 'The Woods' does that.

- Harlan Coben

Love, Lucky, Very, Pulse

Life may not always fall into neat chapters, and you may not always get the satisfying ending you're looking for, but sometimes a good explanation is all the rewrite you need.

- Harlan Coben

Always, May, Chapters, Rewrite

The muse is not an angelic voice that sits on your shoulder and sings sweetly. The muse is the most annoying whine. The muse isn't hard to find, just hard to like - she follows you everywhere, tapping you on the shoulder, demanding that you stop doing whatever else you might be doing and pay attention to her.

- Harlan Coben

Voice, Sings, Sweetly, Shoulder

That's what a good crime novelist - any good novelist - should do with you: play with your perceptions while showing you everything in plain sight.

- Harlan Coben

Play, Your, While, Perceptions

More than once, I've wished my real life had a delete key.

- Harlan Coben

More, Once, Than, Key

I'm the Jerry Lewis of crime fiction.

- Harlan Coben

Crime, Fiction, Jerry, Lewis

I'd never had money growing up, and it's never been that important to me, except maybe to take our kids on a nice vacation or something like that.

- Harlan Coben

Like, Been, Maybe, Vacation

The readers are the ones who let us live our dreams. I try to write books which are really compelling - that you'd take on vacation and rather than going out, you'd read in your hotel room because you had to find out what happened. Hopefully that's what readers are responding to.

- Harlan Coben

Dreams, Rather, Compelling, Vacation

I'm thinking of taking up golf, but the idea of spending time with golfers frightens me.

- Harlan Coben

Golf, Idea, Spending, Golfers

And I love the twist. I love to fool you once, I love to fool you twice, and on the very last page, quite often - very last paragraph sometimes - I like to just play with your perception one more time in a way that makes everything that came before just a little bit different.

- Harlan Coben

Love, Play, Very, Twist

Writers always say, 'I always knew I wanted to be a writer; when I was a three-month-old foetus a pen formed in my hand and I began to scratch my first story on the inside of my mother's womb.' I started later, in my early twenties.

- Harlan Coben

Mother, Inside, Later, Womb

Writing my first book, I think in hindsight I went into it saying, 'It's gonna sell.' I was earning enough to scrape by sometime around a book or two before 'Tell No One.' I moved up from $50,000 to $75,000, then $150,000 for each book. I had never thought I would be doing anything else. I had enough encouragement.

- Harlan Coben

Doing, I Think, Sometime, Scrape

Tragedy is a hell of a teacher. It's much too strict, but it's a hell of a teacher.

- Harlan Coben

Teacher, Tragedy, Too, Strict

I wrote seven Myron Bolitar novels in a row, and I never want to write a Myron book where he just solves a crime. Every one of them I want to be personal, and I want him to grow and change. The problem with that is, it makes the series limited, you can't write a series where a guy is always going through some kind of crisis.

- Harlan Coben

Book, Through, Some, Novels

The actual writing time is a lot shorter than the thinking time. I don't do too many notes. I keep it mostly in my head. I usually start writing a new book around January, and it's due October 1.

- Harlan Coben

Book, Notes, Mostly, January

I don't find any real rivalries with crime and thriller writers anyway. That might sound a little Pollyanna, but for the most part the writers I compete with, if you want to use that word, it's a pretty friendly rivalry. I think we all realise that the boat rises and sinks together.

- Harlan Coben

Compete, I Think, Use, Boat

I love stories. When I'm writing, what I pretend subconsciously is that we're cavemen, we're sitting around the fire, and I'm telling you stories. If I bore you, you're probably going to pick up a big club and hit me over the head.

- Harlan Coben

Love, Big, Telling, Sitting

When I'm writing, what I pretend subconsciously is that we're cavemen, we're sitting around the fire, and I'm telling you stories. If I bore you, you're probably going to pick up a big club and hit me over the head.

- Harlan Coben

Big, Telling, Subconsciously, Sitting

I remember the days of sitting at book signings, playing with my pen when no one would come, and still I even then thought I was living the dream, because I had a book out.

- Harlan Coben

Living, I Remember, Still, Sitting

I am very lucky that I get to tell stories for a living. I love being able to grab people's attention, to keep them turning the pages, to make them stay awake all night.

- Harlan Coben

Love, Lucky, Very, Grab

I like to go out and write. So I'll often go to a Starbucks or a local coffee bar, and I'll sit there and I'll write. I can write pretty much anywhere.

- Harlan Coben

Starbucks, Pretty, Like, Sit

I've never chased the dollar, I've always chased the reader's heart. I love having more readers. The more people who read it, the more thrilled I am.

- Harlan Coben

Love, Always, Chased, Thrilled

My house has too many distractions. There's the email. There's checking my Amazon ranking. I know I'm the only author who's ever done that, ever. There's the fax. Too many distractions. I like to go out and write.

- Harlan Coben

Like, Checking, Author, Email

I'm a little bit of a control freak.

- Harlan Coben

Control, Freak, Little Bit, Control Freak

I pretty much only wear Lilly Pulitzer ties because my best friend owns the company.

- Harlan Coben

Best, Pretty, Wear, Pulitzer

What I want to do is tell stories about normal people in the American suburbs. I don't write the book where it's a conspiracy reaching the prime minister; I don't write the book with the big serial killer who lops off heads. My setting is a very placid pool of suburbia, family life. And within that I can make pretty big splashes.

- Harlan Coben

Big, Very, Suburbs, Serial

In the end, we know what makes us happy. We also know what makes us unhappy. That's the irony. We know and yet we still mess it up. That's part of the human condition, no, and why we need to work on it.

- Harlan Coben

Need, Human Condition, Still, In The End

A novel is like a sausage. You might like the final taste but you don't want to see how it was made.

- Harlan Coben

See, How, Like, Novel

Let me back up a little and tell you why I prefer writing to real life: You can rewrite. A novel, for example, can be cleaned up, altered, trimmed, improved. Life, on the other hand, is one big messy rough draft.

- Harlan Coben

Big, Other, Rough, Novel

'Caught' is a novel of forgiveness, and the past and the present - who should be and who shouldn't be forgiven. None of my books are ever just about thrills, or it won't work.

- Harlan Coben

Past, Caught, Forgiven, Novel

I once worked as a tour guide in the Costa del Sol of Spain.

- Harlan Coben

Spain, Once, Worked, Guide

I like to see the difference between good and evil as kind of like the foul line at a baseball game. It's very thin, it's made of something very flimsy like lime, and if you cross it, it really starts to blur where fair becomes foul and foul becomes fair.

- Harlan Coben

Game, Line, Very, Between

Frankly I'm fairly boring or fairly busy. Between writing and family, I have little time for anything else.

- Harlan Coben

Fairly, Anything Else, Little Time

The most annoying and full-of-crap thing a writer says is, 'I write only for myself, I don't care if anyone reads it.' A writer without a reader doesn't exist.

- Harlan Coben

Myself, I Write, Reader, Annoying

Outlining is not writing. Coming up with ideas is not writing. Researching is not writing. Creating characters is not writing. Only writing is writing.

- Harlan Coben

Writing, Characters, Outlining

Losing my parents was the most crushing thing that ever happened to me. I lost my dad when I was 26, and it changed my life entirely.

- Harlan Coben

My Life, Crushing, Dad, Entirely

You can't have an up without a down, a right without a left, a back without a front - or a happy without a sad.

- Harlan Coben

Sad, Happy, Left, Front

Writing isn't about the process. It is about creating. The joy comes not from the process but from the creation.

- Harlan Coben

Joy, Writing, Process, Creation

I don't necessarily love the sports per se, I love the stories behind them. Also in a kind of perverse way I like to study what it does to us, why we care so much. It's caring about something that's utterly meaningless.

- Harlan Coben

Love, Behind, Study, Per

If I'm not writing well, I'm not happy. If I'm not spending enough time with my family, I'm not happy. If I'm not connecting to friends or if I don't work out enough... You get the point. Everything has to be balanced. Nothing should be an extreme.

- Harlan Coben

Happy, Point, Balanced, Connecting

I'm 48 years old, not a kid anymore by any definition, but here is a universal truth that every adult at some point will realize: We are all always 17 years old, waiting for our lives to begin.

- Harlan Coben

Waiting, Here, Some, Realize

This is the price you pay for having a great father. You get the wonder, the joy, the tender moments - and you get the tears at the end, too.

- Harlan Coben

Father's Day, Tender, Having, Wonder

Children learn much more from how you act than from what you tell them. There are times this worries me - we parents are rarely the role models we want to be. True for life. True for driving.

- Harlan Coben

Life, Tell, Role, Role Models

I can write pretty much anywhere if you give me time and some quiet. The home is not usually the best place because I have four children. It's usually pandemonium around here!

- Harlan Coben

Best, Here, Some, Give Me

We're called New Jersey but we're actually the suburbs of New York.

- Harlan Coben

New, Suburbs, Actually, Jersey

Hope can be the most wonderful thing in the world or it can crush your heart like an eggshell.

- Harlan Coben

World, Crush, Most, Wonderful Thing

Make no mistake, adolescence is a war. No one gets out unscathed.

- Harlan Coben

War, Mistake, Adolescence, Make No Mistake

I love to fool you once, I love to fool you twice, I love to fool you a third time. And just when you think it's all over, I have what I call that Carrie hand-out-of-the-grave moment. Just when you think it's all over, I'm going to hit you with just one more. I can't help myself.

- Harlan Coben

Love, Moment, Just One, Carrie

Writing is one of the few activities where quantity will inevitably make quality. The more you write, the better you're going to get at it.

- Harlan Coben

Will, Quantity, Going, Inevitably

The book I always say that influenced me, subconsciously, because at the time I didn't know I wanted to be a writer, was William Goldman's 'Marathon Man.' That was the first adult thriller that I loved. I read it when I was 15 or so, when my father gave it to me.

- Harlan Coben

Influenced, Subconsciously, Adult

When you like something and you're pretty good at it and you can make a living doing it, you don't ask why. You just count your blessings and go with it.

- Harlan Coben

Doing, Living, Pretty, Pretty Good

In short, the satisfaction of creating, not necessarily the process, always lifts my heart.

- Harlan Coben

Process, Creating, Always, Satisfaction

I try to stress to my children that buying something never leads to true happiness.

- Harlan Coben

Children, Stress, Never, Buying

There are three things that make a person a writer: inspiration, perspiration and desperation.

- Harlan Coben

Person, Writer, Things, Desperation

I always say three things make a writer: inspiration, obviously; perspiration, doing the work. But the third is desperation. I'm not really fit for anything else, or to have a real job. That fear drives me. The pressure has always been self inflicted.

- Harlan Coben

Doing, Inspiration, Been, Desperation

I always think the insecurity is going to go away, but it's always there. Only bad writers think they're good.

- Harlan Coben

Think, Always, Away, Insecurity

I never bought the excuse of not having time to write. If you really want to do it, you're either going to find those hours or eventually decide not to be a writer.

- Harlan Coben

Hours, Going, Having, Bought

I would never write a memoir, because it would be too boring.

- Harlan Coben

Never, Boring, Would, Memoir

I'm not a big sports fan.

- Harlan Coben

Sports, Big, Fan, Sports Fan

No characters in 'Stay Close,' including the leads, are black and white. I want them to be grey. I think that makes for a much more interesting reading experience, something that will stay with you a little bit longer.

- Harlan Coben

Experience, I Think, Bit, Grey

Sometimes even when the book is over I don't know who's good and who's bad. It's really more interesting, I think, to write about gray characters than it is to write about black and white.

- Harlan Coben

Sometimes, Bad, I Think, Gray

I'm not a fan of self-help books - how can something be 'self-help' if the book itself is purportedly helping you?

- Harlan Coben

How, Fan, Itself, Self-Help

I love to make even villains people you can relate to. When you find out who did it, I think you almost like the person, which is not easy to do.

- Harlan Coben

Love, Think, Which, Villains

If I didn't write, I'd be like a duvet cover; I have no other marketable skills. Clearly I'm not meant to do anything else.

- Harlan Coben

Other, Like, Meant, Skills

If I didn't write, I'd be like a duvet cover; I have no other marketable skills.

- Harlan Coben

Other, Like, Cover, Skills

If I don't write, I hate myself. Simple as that. My life is out of balance.

- Harlan Coben

Myself, Hate, My Life, Balance

A writer without a reader doesn't exist.

- Harlan Coben

Writer, Without, Exist, Reader

I'm not very happy idle. There's always this voice in my head that says, 'I should be writing.'

- Harlan Coben

Voice, Always, Very, Idle

I'm not very happy idle.

- Harlan Coben

Happy, Very, Idle

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