Russian author (1968- )
The common good and the individual good rarely coincide.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Night Watch
A car's not the right place for showing off to a girl--the bed's the place for that. The consequences of a mistake there are more upsetting, but less tragic.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
The Last Watch
Fairy tales lie just as much as statistics do, but sometimes you can find a grain of truth in them.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Night Watch
Where there's black, even grey looks white.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Twilight Watch
We're not given the chance to choose absolute truth. Truth's always two-faced. The only thing we have is the right to reject the lie we find most repugnant.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Night Watch
You're a big boy, you ought to understand that punctual transport, public order and safe streets, polite people and good medical services are all the achievements of dictatorship.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
New Watch
If you have love in you, it's a strength. But if you are in love, it's a weakness.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Day Watch
The simple people are trash. A herd of sheep that are good for shearing, but sometimes it's more profitable to slaughter them.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Day Watch
Above all, translators must be native speakers. It's not because they speak the language better -- I understand that sometimes a foreigner can learn a language better than native speakers. It has more to do with having an intimate knowledge of the society for which the book is being translated.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
interview, The Telegraph, October 5, 2012
When there are strange things going on all around, every coincidence should be considered very carefully.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
New Watch
After all, inside every woman, no matter how grown up she is, there is still a frightened little girl.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Last Watch
We are our own gods and our own demons.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Twilight Watch
Ill-considered but well-intentioned actions do more good that actions that are well-considered but cruel.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Night Watch
This is the inevitable consequence of a popular movie: you become the guy who wrote "the book that inspired the movie." Frankly speaking, I find it a bit insulting.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
interview with Paul Semel, December 2, 2014
Nobody can be forced to commit an act of villainy. You can't push anybody into the mud; people always step into it themselves.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Night Watch
What an unfortunate instrument the guitar is! An instrument of such great nobility, a genuine monarch of music-- reduced to a pitiful lump of wood with six strings, constantly abused by people with no ear and no voice.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Day Watch
I often use detective elements in my books. I love detective novels. But I also think science fiction and detective stories are very close and friendly genres, which shows in the books by Isaac Asimov, John Brunner, and Glen Cook. However, whilst even a tiny drop of science fiction may harm a detective story, a little detective element benefits science fiction. Such a strange puzzle.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
interview with Paul Semel, December 2, 2014
Evil is a hydra with many heads, and the more of them you cut off, the more it grows! Hydras have to be starved to death, do you understand that? Kill a hundred Dark Ones, and a thousand more will take their place.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Night Watch
There is very much in the world that is bad. But usually the attempt to defeat evil engenders more evil. I advise you to do good; that is the only way to win the victory.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Last Watch
What if it turns out there really are witches and vampires and werewolves living right here alongside us? After all, what better disguise could there be than to get your image enshrined in the culture of the mass media? Anything that's described in artistic terms and shown in the movies stops being frightening and mysterious. For real horror you need the spoken word, you need an old grandpa sitting on a bench, scaring the grandkids in the evening.
SERGEI LUKYANENKO
Twilight Watch