Quotes by Maurice Sendak

About Maurice Sendak:

Maurice Bernard Sendak was an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He became widely known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, first published in 1963. Born to Jewish-Polish parents, his childhood was affected by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Besides Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak also wrote works such as In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, and illustrated many works by other authors including the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik.
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

Each month is gay, Each season nice, When eating Chicken soup With rice

Maurice Sendak

I want to be alone and work until the day my heads hits the drawing table and I'm dead. Kaput. I feel very much like I want to be with my brother and sister again. They're nowhere. I know they're nowhere and they don't exist, but if nowhere means tha...

Maurice Sendak

In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy. There's a cruelty to childhood, there's an anger.

Maurice Sendak

I think people should be given a test much like driver's tests as to whether they're capable of being parents! It's an art form. I talk a lot. And I think a lot. And I draw a lot. But never in a million years would I have been a parent. That's just w...

Maurice Sendak

The distinctions of fine art bore me to death.

Maurice Sendak

It dawned on me that art was the way I could survive.

Maurice Sendak

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

Maurice Sendak

And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.

Maurice Sendak

Kids don't know about best sellers. They go for what they enjoy. They aren't star chasers and they don't suck up. It's why I like them.

Maurice Sendak

What I do as best I can is out of a deep respect for children, for how difficult their world is.

Maurice Sendak

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

You cannot write for children They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.

Maurice Sendak

People from New York have been calling, to see if I'm still alive. When I answer the phone, you can hear the disappointment in their voice.

Maurice Sendak

There's something in this country that is so opposed to understanding the complexity of children.

Maurice Sendak

Parents shouldn't assume children are made out of sugar candy and will break and collapse instantly. Kids don't. We do.

Maurice Sendak

I'm not Hans Christian Anderson. Nobody's gonna make a statue in the park with a lot of scrambling kids climbing up me. I won't have it, okay?

Maurice Sendak

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

Maurice Sendak

I'm totally crazy, I know that.

Maurice Sendak

It's no fun being lonely.

Maurice Sendak

I've always loved pigs: the shape of them, the look of them, and the fact that they are so intelligent.

Maurice Sendak

Author Bio

  • NameMaurice Sendak
  • DescriptionAmerican illustrator and writer of children's books
  • AliasesMaurice Bernard Sendak
  • BornJune 10, 1928
  • DiedMay 8, 2012
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionGraphic Designer; Cartoonist; Writer; Illustrator; Artist; Painter; Children's Writer
  • WorksWhere The Wild Things Are; In The Night Kitchen
  • AwardsAstrid Lindgren Memorial Award; National Medal Of Arts