Paul Conrad quotes

I've never seen bad drawing destroy a good idea. On the other hand, I've never seen a good drawing save a bad idea. (Paul Conrad)

There is too much illustrating of the news these days. I look at many editorial cartoons and I don't know what the cartoonists are saying or how they feel about a certain issue.

Paul Conrad

If I can finish a cartoon in 20 minutes, then that's the ideal editorial cartoon - it's to the point.

Paul Conrad

I have no idea what readership is of written editorials, but it doesn't come anywhere close to the readership of editorial cartoons.

Paul Conrad

Nobody ever accused me of being objective.

Paul Conrad

I don't see a great deal in editorial cartooning today, and neither do the editors. Damn few of them want cartoons that say something that should be said, politically, that is. As long as that continues, cartoonists are going to be in bad shape, but not as bad shape as the publishers and owners of the newspapers will be in when the people realize they're not reading anything.

Paul Conrad

I wake up angry every morning and start reading. Then I'm furious.

Paul Conrad

It is a peculiar art form, but I think it's a necessary art form - and I do believe it's a noble art form.

Paul Conrad

You should always determine first what you want to say. It's a bad situation for a cartoonist to think of his pictures first...A cartoonist should get out of bed mad and stay mad. The cartoonist's function is essentially a negative one, and the cartoon that advocates something usually says nothing.

Paul Conrad

I decide who's right and who's wrong, and go from there. But I can't just comment on an issue. I've got to take an editorial position. Too many cartoonists simply illustrate the news. Well, the readers know the news, and a cartoon that illustrates doesn't tell them a thing they don't already know. So, I formulate an opinion and draw it.

Paul Conrad

Cartoons are ridicule and satire by definition. A negative attitude is the nature of the art. (Paul Conrad)

Throughout our history - and that of the world - it's always come down to the friction between the haves and have-nots or between the average Joes and the large corporations. So that's a recurring theme in my work.

Paul Conrad

Editorial cartoonists are idealists, of another world. Political, social and moral injustices are perceived as monstrosities [requiring the cartoonist to] sweep aside all the complexities and go to the basic issue; to take suspicions, coincidences and past events and record them larger than life.

Paul Conrad