Quotes by Robert Crumb

About Robert Crumb:

Robert Dennis Crumb is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American culture. His work has attracted controversy, especially for his depiction of women and non-white races[by whom?].
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

We were always drawing comics as kids. My brother Charles made me draw comics. I was very much under his domination. He was actually a much stronger artistic visionary than I was.

Robert Crumb

People still make me nervous, but gradually over the years I've developed kind of like a public personality, so I can talk. I have my spiel, I have my stories.

Robert Crumb

Killing yourself is a major commitment, it takes a kind of courage. Most people just lead lives of cowardly desperation. It's kinda half suicide where you just dull yourself with substances.

Robert Crumb

Throwaway pens are no good - I never liked them. I've tried them all.

Robert Crumb

You can't make everybody love you. It's an exercise in futility, and it's probably not even a good idea to try.

Robert Crumb

I felt so painfully isolated that I vowed I would get revenge on the world by becoming a famous cartoonist.

Robert Crumb

I would call myself a Gnostic. Which means, I'm interested in pursuing and understanding the spiritual nature of things. A Gnostic is somebody seeking knowledge of that aspect of reality.

Robert Crumb

Most of my adult life I had this towering contempt for America.

Robert Crumb

When I was younger, I just lived my life on paper. I didn't really live in the real world very much. As a consequence, I couldn't cope with the real world and real people very well. That in itself became life threatening, so I had to stop drawing so ...

Robert Crumb

I always had a sketchbook with me when I was young. I was hiding behind it, basically, hiding behind drawing because I couldn't cope with people in real life; I was very shy and very nervous around people.

Robert Crumb

Oh, yes. I knew I was weird by the time I was four. I knew I wasn't like other boys. I knew I was more fearful. I didn't like the rough and tumble most boys were into. I knew I was a sissy.

Robert Crumb

I knew I was weird by the time I was four. I knew I wasn't like other boys. I knew I was more fearful. I didn't like the rough and tumble most boys were into. I knew I was a sissy.

Robert Crumb

In my midteens I went through a brief stage of religious fanaticism, but it was very much about just saying prayers and stuff like that, reciting rosaries and spending a lot of time on that kind of Catholic ritual.

Robert Crumb

I oughta be rich. But, you know, if you don't spend all your time looking after money, somebody else will. The guys who look after money, they're the ones who get the money.

Robert Crumb

Some things I won't do for any amount of money. Like for instance, there's a couple of CEOs of very large corporations that offered me lots of money to do special pictures for them. And I just refused to do that. Even if it was a million dollars I wo...

Robert Crumb

Pictures have a lot more power than text. Text is just a bunch of little symbols. You have to actually read it and imagine it, and even that can be censored. With pictures, it's a lot more immediate.

Robert Crumb

I do covers for CDs and LPs of music that I like, reissues of old-time music, and then I'm inspired to make some kind of drawing based on this love of the music. I don't do album covers or CD covers for groups or musicians I don't like or have no int...

Robert Crumb

I'm into old-time music; I'm not very interested in modern, popular music at all. And if I'm really into some particular old-time musician, some fiddler or banjo player, I'm always dying of curiosity to see what they look like. So there's some connec...

Robert Crumb

Violence begets violence, and then you get leaders who are violent men. And you don't want that.

Robert Crumb

The French hold onto their traditions. I was always so alienated in America. My work was this constant reaction to that.

Robert Crumb

The work itself is what motivates me. I like my own stuff, you know? I like the way it looks. I do it to please myself first.

Robert Crumb

Author Bio

  • NameRobert Crumb
  • DescriptionAmerican cartoonist
  • BornAugust 30, 1943
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionCartoonist; Comics Artist; Banjoist