Maurice Sendak Quotes

And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming wild things.

'Hansel and Gretel' is one of the scariest stories ever written! Psychotic mother; stupid, inane father.

And the walls became the world all around.

There must be more to life than having everything.

I know that if there’s a purpose for life, it was for me to hear Mozart.

Emeralds,' said the rabbit. 'Emeralds make a lovely gift.

Children do live in fantasy and reality; they move back and forth very easily in a way we no longer remember how to do.

I wish you all good things. Live your life, live your life, live your life.

A book is really like a lover. It arranges itself in your life in a way that is beautiful.

And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!

Kids don't know about best sellers. They go for what they enjoy. They aren't star chasers and they don't suck up. It's why I like them.

There's so much more to a book than just the reading.

Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice.

And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.

Children are the best living audience in the world because they are so thoroughly honest.

There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen.

I did not know how to paint a mural. I did not know how to prepare the surface. There was nobody from the Renaissance around who could advise me, and I did the best I could.

There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready.

I've always loved pigs: the shape of them, the look of them, and the fact that they are so intelligent.

Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think.

You cannot write for children They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.

I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more.

there is no such thing as fantasy unrelated to reality

Knowledge is the driving force that puts creative passion to work.

Oh, please don't go — we'll eat you up — we love you so!

I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think.

Mothers and children are human beings, and they will sometimes do the wrong thing.

I don't write for children. I write, and somebody says, 'That's for children.'

Peter Rabbit, for all its gentle tininess, loudly proclaims that no story is worth the writing, no picture worth the making, if it is not a work of imagination.

And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.

I want to write something so simple, so short and so silly... and I want it to be for my brother.

It's only adults who read the top layers most of the time. I think children read the internal meanings of everything.

I adored Mickey Mouse when I was a child. He was the emblem of happiness and funniness.

I refuse to cater to the bullshit of innocence.

Parents shouldn't assume children are made out of sugar candy and will break and collapse instantly. Kids don't. We do.

I have to accept my role. I will never kill myself like Vincent Van Gogh. Nor will I paint beautiful water lilies like Monet. I can't do that. I'm in the idiot role of being a kiddie book person.

Girls are infinitely more complicated than boys, and women more than men.

I often went to bed without supper cause I hated my mother's cooking. So, to go to bed without supper was not a torture to me. If she was gonna hurt me, she'd make me eat.

I know there are supposedly happy people in this world. I never believed it, but I take it for granted. God knows, they're all on television.

If children are different from us, they are more spontaneous. Grown-up lives have become overlaid with dross.

I don't believe in an afterlife but I still fully expect to see my brother again.

I’m not Hans Christian Andersen. Nobody’s gonna make a statue in the park with a lot of scrambling kids climbing up me. I won’t have it, okay?

That's what art is. You don't make up stories. You live your life.

It is a blessing to get old. It is a blessing to find the time to do the things, to read the books, to listen to the music. I have nothing now but praise for my life.

To be a healthy person, you have to be sympathetic to the child you once were and maintain the continuity between you as a child and you as an adult.

Inside all of us is... hope. Inside all of us is... fear. Inside all of us is... adventure. Inside all of us is a wild thing.

When Mozart is playing in my room, I am in conjunction with something I can't explain... I don't need to. I know that if there's a purpose for life, it was for me to hear Mozart.

I hate those e-books. They can not be the future... they may well be... I will be dead.

And [he] sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him and it was still hot

I hate, loathe and despise schools.School is bad for you if you have any talent. You should be cultivating that talent in your own particular way.