My parents' work ethic amazed me. How could they put in such long hours, day after day? Harvey Pekar More Quotes by Harvey Pekar More Quotes From Harvey Pekar Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff. Harvey Pekar ordinary stuff writing Since about 1980 Kenny Werner has been one of jazz’s unsung heroes Harvey Pekar kenny jazz hero I think that the so-called average person often exhibits a great deal of heroism in getting through an ordinary day . . . Harvey Pekar ordinary-days average thinking Every ethnic group thinks they are the chosen ones. Harvey Pekar chosen-one groups thinking I'm sure someone out there has a workable solution. But what do I know? I make comic books and write about jazz. I do know the difference between right and wrong, though. Harvey Pekar differences writing book Am I a guy who writes about himself in a comic book, or am I just a character in that book? If I die, will that character keep going, or will he just fade away? Harvey Pekar writing character book Life is about women, gigs, an' bein' creative. Harvey Pekar gigs creative life-is As a matter of fact, I deliberately look for the mundane, because I feel these stories are ignored. The most influential things that happen to virtually all of us are the things that happen on a daily basis. Not the traumas. Harvey Pekar stories facts looks I realize that I'm pretty flawed, but you know - I haven't killed anybody yet. Harvey Pekar flawed realizing havens Comics are words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures. Harvey Pekar can-do I always wanted praise and I always wanted attention; I won't lie to you. I was a jazz critic and that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted people to write about me, not me about them. So I thought, What could I do? I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't act or anything like that. OK, I can write. Harvey Pekar writing lying people I felt more alone that week than any. Sometimes I'd feel a body lying next to me like an amputee feels a phantom limb. All I did was think about Jennie Gerhardt and Alice Quinn and all the decades of people I had known. The more I thought, the more I felt like crying. Life seemed so sweet and so sad, and so hard to let go of in the end. But hey, man, every day is a brand new deal, right? Just keep on working and something's bound to turn up. Harvey Pekar letting-go sweet lying People who are readers of fiction aren't particularly interested in comic books. Harvey Pekar book people fiction I try and write the way things happen. I don't try and fulfill people's wishes Harvey Pekar wish writing people I thought I had a great opportunity when I started doing my comic book in 1972. I thought there was so much territory to work in. Harvey Pekar territory opportunity book I just continue to be kind of disappointed that people don't realize that and try and diversify the kind of work they are doing in comics. Harvey Pekar kind trying people I decided I was going to tell these stories. I went around and met Crumb. He was the cartoonist. I started realizing comics weren't just kid stuff. Harvey Pekar stories stuff kids I think comics have far more potential than a lot of people realize. Harvey Pekar realizing people thinking I met Robert Crumb in 1962; he lived in Cleveland for a while. I took a look at his stuff. Crumb was doing stuff beyond what other writers and artists were doing. It was a step beyond Mad. Harvey Pekar cleveland mad artist There was a survey done a few years ago that affected me greatly. it was discovered that intelligent people either estimate their intelligence accurately or slightly underestimate themselves, but stupid people overestimate their intelligence and by huge margins. (And these were things like straight up math tests, not controversial IQ tests.) Harvey Pekar intelligent stupid math
