Alan Furst

I've always liked lost, old New York. ”

If you're a writer, you're always working. ”

If I'm a genre writer, I'm at the edge. In the end, they do work like genre fiction. You have a hero, there's a love interest, there's always a chase, there's fighting of some kind. You don't have to do that in a novel. But you do in a genre novel. ”

I love the combination of the words 'spies' and 'Balkans.' It's like meat and potatoes. ”

I love the gray areas, but I like the gray areas as considered by bright, educated, courageous people. ”

Romantic love, or sex, is the only good thing in a life that is being lived in a dark way. ”

You have to have heart's passion to write a novel. ”

I love Paris for the million reasons that everybody loves the city. It's an incredibly romantic and beautiful place. ”

I had the experience of a monk copying documents, applying myself assiduously to my work. And I thought whatever happened, happened - this is just what I do in my life. ”

I could not spend the rest of my life sitting in Brazil writing down who called whom uncle and aunt. ”