Quotes from Maurice Sendak

Truthfullness to life-both fantasy life and factual life-is the basis of all great art.

Finding out that I was gay when I was older was a shock and a disappointment.

I have a good life.

God, I had great people in my life.

I never set out to write books for children. I don't have a feeling that I'm gonna save children or my life is devoted.

I feel it in me like a woman having a baby, all that life churning inside me. I feel it every day; it moves, stretches, yawns. It's getting ready to be born. It knows exactly what it is.

There's so much more to a book than just the reading.

Grown-ups are afraid for children. It's not children who are afraid.

I hate those e-books. They can not be the future... they may well be... I will be dead.

I have a little tiny Emily Dickinson so big that I carry in my pocket everywhere. And you just read three poems of Emily. She is so brave. She is so strong. She is such a sexy, passionate, little woman. I feel better.

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.

My big concern is me and what do I do now until the time of my death. That is valid. That is useful. That is beautiful. That is creative.

I refuse to lie to children.

I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more.

Oh, please don't go — we'll eat you up — we love you so!

I'm not a religious person.

I am not a religious person, nor do I have any regrets.

My work is not great, but it's respectable. I have no false illusions.

I'm an illustrator. I have to accept my role.

I don't write for children. I write and someone says it's for children.

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.

Because love is so enormous, the only thing you can think of doing is swallowing the person that you love entirely.

Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice.

It's only adults who read the top layers most of the time. I think children read the internal meanings of everything.