I grew up in a house that was in a constant state of mourning. Maurice Sendak More Quotes by Maurice Sendak More Quotes From Maurice Sendak We're supposed to be civilized. We're supposed to go to work every day. We're supposed to be nice to our friends and send Christmas cards to our parents. Maurice Sendak christmas-cardniceparent I think there is something barbaric in children, and it's missing in lots of books for them because we don't like to think of it. We want them to be happy [but] childhood is a very tough time. Maurice Sendak bookchildrenthinking You can start making up any kind of story if you want to. Maurice Sendak kindstorieswant All I liked to do when I was a kid was draw. Maurice Sendak drawskids Thank God that Bumble-Ardy's parents are dead so we don't have to wonder what they did to him. We only know that they were famous, and famous people have unhappy children for the most part. They don't have the time to take care of them. So he's a troubled pig-boy, a kid you've got to watch. Maurice Sendak boyskidschildren Bumble-Ardy is a very wicked little child as far as I'm concerned. He's not to be trusted. Maurice Sendak wickedlittleschildren One of the beauties of being an artist is that you can create a whole new world, with circumstances that are better in your invented world than they are in the real world. Maurice Sendak artistrealworld I want to see me to the end working, living for myself. Ripeness is all. Maurice Sendak ripenessendswant We all want to be renewed, don't we? Maurice Sendak want Life has only gotten better personally for me as I've gotten older. I mean, being young was such a gross waste of time. I was just such a miserable, miserable person. Maurice Sendak miserable-personwastemean I've always loved pigs: the shape of them, the look of them, and the fact that they are so intelligent. Maurice Sendak intelligentpigslooks 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. Maurice Sendak grantedpeopleworld there is no such thing as fantasy unrelated to reality Maurice Sendak fantasyreality It was a very difficult time. I was working on [umble-Ardy] when my partner and friend was dying of cancer. We set up a room in the house to be like a hospital room. Eugene died, and then I had bypass surgery. I was doing the book to stay sane while all this was going on. Maurice Sendak cancerhousebook We're animals. We're violent. We're criminal. We're not so far away from the gorillas and the apes, those beautiful creatures. Maurice Sendak criminalsanimalbeautiful 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. Maurice Sendak cookinghurtmother Girls are infinitely more complicated than boys, and women more than men. Maurice Sendak girlmenboys A whole new world of Italian music was springing up, and [Giuseppe] Verdi was seen as old. Boito got Verdi all excited about the possibility of doing another opera, another kind of opera. In fact, Verdi composed his two best operas, Otello and Falstaff, in his eighties. Maurice Sendak operaitaliantwo To get a child's trust - you may know or not - is a very hard thing to do. They're so used to not believing adults - because adults tell tales and lies all the time. Maurice Sendak believelyingchildren 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. Maurice Sendak renaissancesurfacepaint
