Chris Van Allsburg Quotes

The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?

I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head

its not bad to be different. Sometimes it's the mark of being very very talented.

The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what's fascinating to me

Following my muse has worked out pretty well so far. I can't see any reason to change the formula now.

I don't think ordinary things are very interesting, so I try to imagine a world that is less ordinary.

I pore over every word on the cereal box at breakfast, often more than once. You can ask me anything about shredded wheat.

The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity.

Certain peer pressures encourage little fingers to learn how to hold a football instead of a crayon. I confess to having yielded to these pressures.

An award does not change the quality of a book.

I've always thought of the book as a visual art form, and it should represent a single artistic idea, which it does if you write your own material.

My ideas are not meant to suggest dreams or reality, but a surreal quality.

Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.

I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.

Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite relevant. Besides, it makes me feel great.

If you don't know where you're going, stop racing to get there. -- from Just Desert by M. T. Anderson

As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk, I don't really believe it can happen.

There was a great deal of peer recognition to be gained in elementary school by being able to draw well. One girl could draw horses so well, she was looked upon as a kind of sorceress.

There must be something to think about at the end.

I have lots of ideas. The problem for me has always been which one to do.

Your house is all about routine, not the unexpected events of your life.

I take my ideas from my experiences.

I'm not a perfectionist. I'm just very observant.

Book lovers love books!" her mother announced. "There's romance about the books- even having them seems to have a kind of excitement."from Mr. Linden's Library by Walter Dean Myers

The general effect of viewing 'Jumanji' is thrilling. I was able to see on film a thing that at one point had only existed in my imagination. I got to see the images from my book come alive.

I don't like to travel. Yet all my books seem to involve a journey.

The crudest thing I've done as a teacher was to require students to write a national anthem for their country and sing it themselves.