List of Maurice Sendak Quotes

For My Father The One Calamity Was That My Brother And Sister And I Never Learned To Swim. My Father, Who Was Very Macho, Was A Strong Swimmer And Was Terribly Disappointed To Have Children Who Didn't Swim. Once When My Mother Was Sitting In A Beach Chair - I Can Still See The Big Umbrella - She Called To My Father, "throw Them In! Throw Them In! They'll Swim!" So He Did. Then He Looked Down, And There Were The Three Sendak Children Lying Perfectly Still Underwater, Not Fighting For Life!

All I Liked To Do When I Was A Kid Was Draw. My Childhood Was Like My Adult Life: Drawing Pictures With My Brother, Putting The Comics Up On The Glass Window, And Tracing The Characters Onto Tracing Paper Or Drawing Paper And Then Coloring Them. That And Making Things Was All We Ever Did.

The Fan Mail I Get From Kids Are Asking Me Questions Which They Do Not Ask Their Mothers And Fathers. Because If They Had, Why Write To Me, A Perfect Stranger?

I Never Thought Of Bumble-ardy In That Way. But I Still Have That Same Deep Feeling For Children Who Are In Dire Trouble. I See Bumble-ardy As A Lonely, Unhappy Kid Who Is Doing The Very Best He Can To Be In The World, To Have A Party.

[drawing] And Making Things Was All We Ever Did. My Brother And I Built The Entire New York World's Fair Of 1939 In Miniature Out Of Wax. The Floor Of Our Room Was Covered With Little Waxen Buildings. Nobody Else Could Come In.

My Brother, Who Was Older, Was The Gifted One, Much More Talented Than I.

My Sister Had Her Own Room. She Also Had Innumerable Boyfriends. I Had A Yo-yo Collection That Was Beyond Belief, And The Reason I Had It Was Mostly That I Would Stand In The Doorway Of The Living Room Watching Her And Her Boyfriend. Finally She Caught On How To Get This Kid Out Of The Way. Give Him A Yo-yo!

Then One Day My Sister Abandoned Me At The 1939 World's Fair, And That Incident Is The Essence Of In The Night Kitchen. I Was Standing There With Hundreds Of Other People Waving Back At The Little Midgets Dressed Like Bakers When I Turned Around And My Sister Was Gone! The Next Thing I Know I'm Screaming And Crying And Policemen Are Taking Me To A Big Place With Tons Of Kids Who Had All Been Abandoned Like Me. At Least I Was Old Enough To Give Them A Name And An Address.

Bumble-ardy Looks Like A Happy Book. That's The Funniest Thing About It. But This Was Survival. I Was Working Very Hard To Survive.

I'm Getting Old. And I'm Disappointed In Everything Just The Way Old People Traditionally, Boringly Are. That Bothers Me Because Is It Too Traditional? Am I Not Fighting Hard Enough? I Don't Feel The Fight. I Don't Feel It.

I'm Not Jaded. I Never Have Been Jaded. I've Always Been Surprised At My Success. I've Always Enjoyed It.

My Big Concern Is Me And What Do I Do Now Until The Time Of My Death. That Is Valid. That Is Useful. That Is Beautiful. That Is Creative.