Maurice Sendak quotes - page 2

Childhood is a tricky business. Usually, something goes wrong. (Maurice Sendak)
There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen. View quote
Maurice Sendak
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. View quote
Maurice Sendak
there is no such thing as fantasy unrelated to reality. View quote
Maurice Sendak
Then from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat, so he gave up being king of the wild things. View quote
Maurice Sendak
Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice. View quote
Maurice Sendak
Childhood is cannibals and psychotics vomiting in your mouth! View quote
Maurice Sendak
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. View quote
Maurice Sendak
I'm gay. I just didn't think it was anybody's business ... All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew. View quote
Maurice Sendak
We were the "chosen people," chosen to be killed? View quote
Maurice Sendak
One of the few graces of getting old - and God knows there are few graces - is that if you've worked hard and kept your nose to the grindstone, something happens: The body gets old but the creative mechanism is refreshed, smoothed and oiled and honed. That is the grace. That is the splendid grace. And I think that is what's happening to me. (Maurice Sendak)
A book is really like a lover. It arranges itself in your life in a way that is beautiful. View quote
Maurice Sendak
I wanted my wild things to be frightening. View quote
Maurice Sendak
If children are different from us, they are more spontaneous. Grown-up lives have become overlaid with dross. View quote
Maurice Sendak
Kids lead a very private life. View quote
Maurice Sendak
I wanted to be acknowledged as an artist, not just some kiddie-book artist. View quote
Maurice Sendak
That always seemed to be the most critical test that a child was confronted with - loss of parents, loss of direction, loss of love. Can you live without a mother and a father? View quote
Maurice Sendak
My life in Brooklyn was in constant danger because of my bad health. View quote
Maurice Sendak
All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew. View quote
Maurice Sendak
I can't believe I've turned into a typical old man. I can't believe it. I was young just minutes ago. View quote
Maurice Sendak
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. (Maurice Sendak)
It's no fun being lonely. View quote
Maurice Sendak
There are certain pieces of music that are always attached to certain books. View quote
Maurice Sendak
I mean, being a child was being a child, was being a creature without power, without pocket money, without escape routes of any kind. So I didn't want to be a child. View quote
Maurice Sendak
Do parents sit down and tell their kids everything? I don't know. I don't know. I've convinced myself - I hope I'm right - that children despair of you if you don't tell them the truth. View quote
Maurice Sendak