Quotes by Harvey Pekar

About Harvey Pekar:

Harvey Lawrence Pekar was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a well-received film adaptation of the same name.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Israel's creation was politically amazing and caused by a number of unusual events. And I understand. For centuries, Jews endured horrible suffering, and like other people, deserve the right to self-determination, but the way Israel is going now frig...

Harvey Pekar

I think you can do anything with comics that you could do in just about any art form.

Harvey Pekar

I'm trying to get every man involved in art, into experimental music, or painting, or novel-writing.

Harvey Pekar

Cleveland has a very bad reputation, but there's a lot of stuff that's left over from when there were very wealthy people - the Art Museum and a world class symphony that's still world class.

Harvey Pekar

I'd like to see the comics' style expanded. I'd like to see artists synthesize traditional comics arts style with fine-arts styles or whatever. I like to see innovation. I don't like it when an art form becomes stagnant.

Harvey Pekar

I'm from the beatnik generation, where everybody wanted to be a poet or writer or something. And at that time, I was a jazz critic, and I was always thinking, theorizing about what makes great art or what's important in art.

Harvey Pekar

It dawned on me that comics were not an intrinsically limited medium. There was a tremendous amount of things you could do in comics that you couldn't do in other art forms - but no one was doing it. I figured if I'd make a try at it, I'd at least be...

Harvey Pekar

Nationalism and ethnic pride, in the long run, delay human development, and the misery they cause must be recognized. If enough people saw that , maybe we wouldn't have so many wars.

Harvey Pekar

My parents' work ethic amazed me. How could they put in such long hours, day after day? Part of the reason was to keep the family going - to keep me going. I realized that, although we had different values derived from different cultures and wouldn't...

Harvey Pekar

It's extremely seldom that anybody wants me to change what I've written about them. Generally I portray them in a good light, if they're friends.

Harvey Pekar

There hasn't been enough change in comics to suit me. I don't know why exactly.

Harvey Pekar

It's real easy for me to write a lot of stories. I just go and I live through something, and I go home and write about it. It's that quick.

Harvey Pekar

You can find heroism everyday, like guys working terrible jobs because they've got to support their families. Or as far as humor, the things I see on the job, on the street, are far funnier than anything you'll ever see on TV.

Harvey Pekar

I like to go back over history and check out what people have written and whether I agree with it or not.

Harvey Pekar

I think you can find all the elements that you can find in great literature in mundane experiences.

Harvey Pekar

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

It makes you feel good to know that there's other people afflicted like you.

Harvey Pekar

It didn't take long to establish myself, as far as people thinking my work was good. They liked it from the start.

Harvey Pekar

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 c...

Harvey Pekar

If there is something to worry about, my mind has a tendency to worry about it. That can cut two ways. It can really keep you on the ball, but if you worry about every little thing, it's not a good use of time and energy.

Harvey Pekar

Author Bio

  • NameHarvey Pekar
  • DescriptionWriter
  • BornOctober 8, 1939
  • DiedJuly 12, 2010
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionComics Artist; Autobiographer; Writer