I draw what I feel, which is no more than doing my job.

What's most important in animation is the emotions and the ideas being portrayed. I'm a great believer of energy and emotion.

Animation is tremendously resilient. Animation will recover, as art always recovers. There's always cycles of good art.

As an artist, I want to interpret my feelings - not run across the street and ask what my mother thinks.

As an artist, I want to interpret my feelings

I would like to have the original ending to my Lord of the Rings instead of the one they released. In my original cut I had the victory at Helm's Deep as the final sequence.

Disney had such a hold on the mind of America-they were Adolf Hitler. The whole country thought Disney was some sort of god and that animation was some sort of pure thing for children.

Look what Disney's done to their animation department. There wasn't an animator in charge of their animation unit!

All the old great companies were run by guys who knew what an animator meant, and guys who knew how to draw. All the companies today are run by executives.

The rise of anime had to happen. If the Japanese could tell better American stories, it would go through the roof. They still tell stories which are very much oriental. I take my hat off to them.

Cartooning at its best is a fine art. I'm a cartoonist who works in the medium of animation, which also allows me to paint my cartoons.

Beauty fades and the body becomes old, but nothing can dull the shine of a woman with a good heart.

Words will build no walls.

You must first clearly see a thing in your mind before you can do it.

We need material development, but we need to understand that by itself it doesn't bring peace of mind.

I like the simple things. I don't know why. I'm that way. I came from a simple place.

I collect records. And cats. I don't have any cats right now. But if I'm taking a walk and I see a cat, I'm happy.

It takes years to establish yourself, and then you have one big film and everyone calls you an overnight success. You think, 'Christ, I've been sweating and crying for seven years.'.

And that may be [Helen Gurley] Brown’s most enlightened lesson: that sexual autonomy and fulfillment are inseparable from the autonomy and fulfillment that a woman gets from her career.

You don't know how much artists go through to make it look so easy. It's all in the practice.

I do appreciate every single dollar I earn.