Survival was my only hope, success my only revenge.
— Patricia Cornwell
Even when I am writing I usually take a break around lunchtime and go for a little walk to clear out my head.
I like crazy shoes or unusual cowboy boots and I collect big belt buckles.
I constantly remind people that crime isn't solved by technology; it's solved by people.
The human capacity to be curious has always existed.
I refuse to sit on my laurels.
I don't do things that are illegal.
I won't put myself in a position where I'm vulnerable.
I've been stalked.
My friends call me Miss Worst Case Scenario.
I am a journalist.
But when I was a little kid, I was always writing stories and illustrating little books that I would create.
I didn't invent forensic science and medicine. I just was one of the first people to recognize how interesting it is.
I've always believed human blood is red because it really needs to draw attention to itself.
I'm always surprised when large numbers of people buy my books.
On the last morning of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War, I built a fire and sat facing a window of darkness where at sunrise I knew I would find the sea.
I like to get to bed with a clear head.
I stop working at about 3 p.m. on Fridays.
I am an Armani and a Dolce & Gabbana kind of a person.
With DNA, the ability to find out a lot more with a lot less has increased our ability for identification.
Murder is about power and the more powerful women get the more it will change the good that they do and the bad that they do.
Everyone is doing forensics.
When I was in second grade, my mother moved from Miami to this evangelical conservative environment in western North Carolina, two miles down the road from Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth.
If you chomp down too hard on my work, you're going to break your teeth.
I've had people turn up to book signings with knives, with guns.
I believe the root of all evil is abuse of power.
First of all, it does not deter crime, the death penalty.
In the first person, the readers feel smart, like it's them solving the case.
I dropped chemistry. I practically blew up the lab in college.
I find it difficult to attend autopsies. Especially the smells.
Even if you are a best-seller you feel insecure because it is all so unpredictable.
If it's really beautiful weather, sometimes I might take a helicopter out. I got my license in 1999.
Botox not only helps with wrinkles, it actually makes you feel more relaxed as frowning causes tension.
I am a fan of Botox.
The greatest gift is our own eyes, sense of smell, and abilities to deduce.
My fans want me to talk to them. And even if they want to be critical, I want to hear what they've got to say.
In my forties, my optimism was boundless. I had really good health and tremendous success which allowed me to do anything I wanted.
Being with someone who is smart and gives good advice adds tremendously wonderful elements to your life.
Obviously people read the books in order to be entertained.
If everybody, every day, would try to do one thing that pulls them beyond themselves the world will start being a better place.
I'm very, very sensitive to pain and to people who suffer.
That's why I think the 'Scarpetta' series has worked so well because people like spending time with this character.
The biggest risk with a series that goes on this long is that you'll get bored with the character.
I've never taken a scalpel to a dead body.
I wouldn't want to donate my body for scientific study.
Night fell clean and cold in Dublin, and wind moaned beyond my room as if a million pipes played the air.
