Quotes by Michael Leunig

About Michael Leunig:

Michael Leunig is an Australian cartoonist, poet and cultural commentator. His best known works include The Adventures of Vasco Pyjama and the Curly Flats series. He was declared an Australian Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1999.
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

Any cartoon that can be liked by a committee is really not worth drawing; in fact, must not be drawn at all! Better to become a stockbroker.

Michael Leunig

Humans are nervous, touchy creatures and can be easily offended. Many are deeply insecure. They become focused and energized by taking offence; it makes them feel meaningful and alive.

Michael Leunig

You wouldn't wish hardship on anyone, but when it comes, you would be crazy not to see the huge growth that will come from it.

Michael Leunig

Sweetheart,' 'darling,' 'luv.' I like these words; they fit me like a comfortable old pullover. I remember them from childhood; that's what innocent little boys were called by cheerful aunties back then, to make them feel welcome and secure in the wo...

Michael Leunig

Falling down is a very big subject, and so is the concept of downfall. None of us escapes, and I have had my share of both.

Michael Leunig

If the nose has become a deeply disillusioned and grief-stricken organ in the modern world, then what of the ear? The poor little ear - such an innocent, intelligent and sensitive creature; in these times of such flagrant sonic brutality, the sense w...

Michael Leunig

Modern man is probably a more humiliated and depressed creature than he dares to know.

Michael Leunig

I have sometimes done cartoons that are hurtful to people - immature, spiteful stuff. Some are so self-indulgent, and some have just failed. I look back and sometimes cringe. But one regret as I get older is that I haven't been radical and wild enoug...

Michael Leunig

To be a pleasant person, you would at least need to see the point of being a pleasant person, or have it explained to you at some sort of 'finishing school' where you could actually learn the laws of propriety and the skills of appearing well-adapted...

Michael Leunig

Two's company and three's a crowd, but seven can be an uprising. And the seven can become 70 or 700 or 7000 very quickly if the sense of being wronged is felt broadly and truly enough.

Michael Leunig

In some ways, calm bodily protest has a nakedness to it that may be deeply embarrassing for observers; an act not unlike the bare-faced Oliver Twist effrontery that stands vulnerably before authority, asking for more or better.

Michael Leunig

What a magical thing is the bed, and what a vulnerable, innocent creature is the sleeping human - the human who never looks more truthful or pitiful or benign; the curled-up, childlike dreaming soul who has for a few hours become an angel adrift.

Michael Leunig

There is some suffering that awaits us all.

Michael Leunig

Humanity hungers for the uncommon.

Michael Leunig

Darkness is full of possibility.

Michael Leunig

Clever modern man is so witless that he thinks moral silence and empty conscience are an advantage.

Michael Leunig

Anzac Day, it seems, must now be done with bluster, hoopla and media hypnotism.

Michael Leunig

Democracy just isn't working any more; without sanity at its heart, it is becoming a most unique and fiendish tyranny.

Michael Leunig

If you know anything about ducks, you know a baby duck will imprint itself on you. It misses its mother.

Michael Leunig

People seem to take as much offence as they possibly can these days - it's almost a new type of greed, a new kind of road rage.

Michael Leunig

I sense that the road to Heaven is paved with dashed hopes.

Michael Leunig

Author Bio

  • NameMichael Leunig
  • DescriptionAustralian artist
  • BornJune 2, 1945
  • CountryAustralia