Thomas Harris is an acclaimed American writer, famous for his suspense novels. He is one of the very few privileged writers who have successfully sold off all their books to be adapted as movies. During his studies at Baylor University, he also worked as a reporter for a local newspaper. He has published five books and almost all have an integral feature of thrill and horror. Although all his books have been best-sellers, but the most notable one was ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ which was adapted into a movie, and subsequently won multiple ‘Oscars’. His latest novel ‘Hannibal’ has been the third novel to feature the main characters of ‘Dr. Hannibal Lecter’ and ‘Clarice Starling’. It portrays the life of both the characters after seven years of ‘The Silence of Lambs’. His books, writings, thoughts and work portray his stupendous intellect and he has also been acknowledged as one of the best writers by the famous novelist ‘John Dunning’. We have curated his famous quotes from his books and film adaptations. Go through these quotes and sayings by Thomas Harris which will surely inspire you besides giving you goosebumps.
It's fear, Jack. The man deals with a huge amount of fear.'
Because he got hurt?'
No, not entirely. Fear comes with imagination, it's a penalty, it's the price of imagination.
Thomas Harris
It's hard to have anything isn't it? Rare to get it, hard to keep it. This is a damn slippery planet.
Thomas Harris
She didn't give a damn about some of them, but she had grown to learn that inattention can be a stratagem to avoid pain, and that it is often misread as shallowness and indifference.
Thomas Harris
Are you looking for sympathy? You'll find it in the dictionary between shit and syphilis
Nothing makes us more vulnerable than loneliness except greed.
Thomas Harris
We can only learn so much and live.
Thomas Harris
Silence can mock.
Thomas Harris
We live in a primitive time—don’t we, Will?—neither savage nor wise. Half measures are the curse of it. Any rational society would either kill me or give me my books.
What does he do, Clarice? What is the first and principal thing he does, what need does he serve by killing? He covets. How do we begin to covet? We begin by coveting what we see every day.
The most stable elements, Clarice, appear in the middle of the periodic table, roughly between iron and silver.
Between iron and silver. I think that is appropriate for you.
I'm giving serious thought into eating yor wife” - Hannibal Lecter
Thomas Harris
Did you ever think, Clarice, why the Philistines don't understand you? It's because you are the answer to Samson's riddle. You are the honey in the lion.
Evil's just destructive? Then storms are evil, if it's that simple. And we have fire, and there there's hail. Underwriters lump it all under 'Acts of God.
It occured to Starling how much Roden would benefit from an elbow smash in the hinge of his jaw.
Thomas Harris
We routinely leave our small children in day care among strangers. At the same time, in our guilt we evince paranoia about strangers and foster fear in children.
He knew that a middle-aged man can be so desperate for wisdom he may try to make some up, and how deadly that can be to a youngster who believes him.
Thomas Harris
The first step in the development of taste is to be willing to to credit your own opinion.
Thomas Harris
Orion is above the horizon now, and near it Jupiter, brighter than it will ever be ... But i expect you can see it too. Some of our stars are the same.
And your dinner for the orchestra officials."
"Haven't you ever had people coming over and no time to shop? You have to make do with what's in the fridge, Clarice. May I call you Clarice?
She wanted to go inside. She wanted to go in, wanting it as we want to jump from balconies, as the glint of the rails tempts us when we hear the approaching train.
Thomas Harris
The longing need to be noticed that is often miscalled ego.
There is no murder. We make murder, and it matters only to us.
Thomas Harris
It would be so nice to be wanted by someone with the courage to get his hat or stay as he damn pleased, and who gave her credit for the same. Someone who didn't worry about her.
Thomas Harris
In making friends, she was wary of people who foster dependency and feed on it. She had been involved with a few--the blind attract them, and they are the enemy.
Thomas Harris
We don't begin to covet with imagined things. Coveting is a very literal sin–we begin to covet with tangibles, we begin with what we see every day.
Thomas Harris
... the washing machine's rhythm was like a giant heartbeat, and the rush of its waters was what the unborn hear- our last memory of peace.
He could see that he had too many flowers in the room, and must add more to make it come back right again. Too many flowers was too many, but way too many was just right.
Thomas Harris
Every person is worth your time, Hannibal. If at first appearance a person seems dull, then look harder, look into him.
We assign a moment to decision, to dignify the process as a timely result of rational and conscious thought. But decisions are made of kneaded feelings; they are more often a lump than a sum.
Thomas Harris
Dr. Doemling, does he want to fuck her or kill her, or eat her, or what?' Mason asked, exhausting the possibilities he could see. 'Probably all three,' Dr. Doemling said.
Thomas Harris
Writing novels is the hardest thing I've ever done, including digging irrigation ditches.
Thomas Harris
When the fox hears a rabbit scream, he comes running, but not to help.
Thomas Harris
He could feed the caterpillar, he could whisper through the chrysalis; what hatched out followed its own nature and was beyond him.
Thomas Harris
You didn’t draw a freak. You drew a man with a freak on his back. Nothing wrong with you, kid.
It's hard to have anything, isn't it? Rare yo get it, hard to keep it. This is a damn slippery planet.
Thomas Harris
In the Green Machine there is no mercy; we make mercy, manufacture it in parts that have overgrown our basic reptile brain. There is no murder. We make murder, and it matters only to us.
Thomas Harris
Funerals often make us want sex—it’s one in the eye for death.
Thomas Harris
Baby needs a new pair of shoes,' he said. 'My baby doesn't need any shoes.
Hannibal at eighteen was rooting for Mephistopheles and contemptuous of Faust, but he only half-listened to the climax. He was watching and breathing Lady Murasaki...
Thomas Harris
You must understand that when you are writing a novel you are not making anything up.
Pictures ... flashed on her in sudden color, too much color, shocking color, the color that leaps out of black when lightning strikes at night.
Thomas Harris
Pachelbel’s Canon filled the sun-drowned room where they learned each other and even then the fear flickered across him like an osprey’s shadow: This is too good to live for long.
Almost every place has a moment of the day, an angle and intensity of light, in which it looks its best. When you're stuck someplace, you learn that time and you look forward to it.
The emperor counsels simplicity. First principles. Of each particular thing, ask: What is it in itself, in its own constitution? What is its causal nature?
