Maurice Sendak

Girls are infinitely more complicated than boys and women more than men. And there's no doubt about that. We just don't like to think about it. Certainly the men don't like to think about it.

To get a child's trust - you may know or not - is a very hard thing to do. They're so used to not believing adults - because adults tell tales and lies all the time.

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

There are certain pieces of music that are always attached to certain books.

I became a set designer for opera. I'm a great opera buff, I love classical music, and I needed a time-out.

I mean, being a child was being a child, was being a creature without power, without pocket money, without escape routes of any kind. So I didn't want to be a child.

My father could be very witty, even if the humor was always on the darker side of irony.

I've convinced myself - I hope I'm right - that children despair of you if you don't tell them the truth.

Do parents sit down and tell their kids everything? I don't know. I don't know. I've convinced myself - I hope I'm right - that children despair of you if you don't tell them the truth.

My life in Brooklyn was in constant danger because of my bad health.

I adored Mickey Mouse when I was a child. He was the emblem of happiness and funniness.

Oh, I adored Mickey Mouse when I was a child. He was the emblem of happiness and funniness. You went to the movies then, you saw two movies and a short. When Mickey Mouse came on the screen and there was his big head, my sister said she had to hold onto me. I went berserk.

I hate those e-books. They cannot be the future. They may well be.

I hate those e-books. They can not be the future... they may well be... I will be dead.

I don't need faith.

I'd like to believe an accumulation of experience has made me a sort of a grown-up person, so I can have judgment and taste and whatever.

As a kid, all I thought about was death.

The distinctions of fine art bore me to death.

I'm not afraid of death.

When I did 'Bumble-ardy, ' I was so intensely aware of death. Eugene, my friend and partner, was dying here in the house when I did 'Bumble-ardy'. I did 'Bumble-ardy' to save myself. I did not want to die with him. I wanted to live, as any human being does.