Quotes from Peter Sís

When you feel empty, you have to open up your heart and let the wind sweep through it.

The seven oceans are drops of rain...

The sorrow bird: We've gone too far. I'm afraid we can't go back. Hoopoe: Back?... There's a circle, bird. Why, just think of the phoenix. He lives alone for more than a thousand years acquiring great wisdom and when it's his time to go, he gathers leaves around himself, spreads his wings, and starts a fire - a new phoenix is born from his ashes. We're going forward, bird!

Conocen la historia del pájaro que se extravió y nadie fué en su busca? Se convirtió en piedra y lloró. Lloró pequeñísimos guijarros.

The seven planets are freckles...

If all the heavens with all their stars exploded in this valley, they would be but a leaf fluttering in the wind. Here a tiny fish is mightier than a whale and nobody can say why.

El amor ama las cosas difíciles.

Netfali's breath caught in his throat at the sight of the infinite colors and the gentle curve of the faraway horizon. He had never imagined the height of the white spray breaking against the rocks, the dark sand, or the air that whispered of fish and salt. He stood, captivated, feeling small and insignificant, and at the same time as if he belonged to something much grander.

The Valley of Understanding: Here we all choose a different way and different rules to disobey.

I'm a visual person, so it always starts with a picture, and then I get obsessed with the idea, sometimes too much. I have these blank books in which I take notes, and I add postcards and other physical items.

How do you visualize something you've never seen and just imagined, through someone you love very much?

I know there are some good American police. But I grew up in a country where we were afraid of the police.

I still have an accent. But when I return to Prague, I speak the language yet do not know what they are talking about.

The birds never needed passports... We always thought, the birds can go wherever they want, and we couldn't, really. The birds were very much the symbol of... free movement for me.

I had a very comfortable life, but there were people who spent their life in prison, whose families were destroyed.

Ursula Nordstrom was famous for finding artists in unlikely places. Maurice Sendak was a window designer, and she just came across one of his windows. Everyone was looking to find a talent.

People think children's books are about teddy bears and little flowers. I realize people sometimes don't know what to do with my books because they say, 'Is it a children's book, and what age group?'

My father documented on film for the last time what Tibet looked like before the world got there.

When I do my own books, I take it as more of my own confessional, but when I illustrate for other people, it is intriguing because I feel like I shouldn't be stepping too much into the limelight. It's like playing the piano while someone else is singing.

When you have little children, you want to tell them about joy and happiness and hope. And then comes the time you want to tell them there are tough moments. I admire people who can do that.

I always think like I was born in the country where everybody ate apples. Then I ended up in the country where everybody eats bananas. So now, I eat bananas so long, I'm just remembering the apples.

I didn't understand in the beginning that the editor didn't want me to know the author. I'd make an effort to meet the author, but it would end up being a disaster because then I had the author telling me what I should be doing.

If I would use anything from 'The Little Prince,' even some little quote, it's all copyrighted in France. Like Walt Disney in this country, it's a national treasure.

I am afraid that people will think I re-illustrated 'The Little Prince,' when really, it was more a tribute to him as a dedicated pilot and a man who believed in the goodness of people.