Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak

27 quotes

Known primarily as an American children's book author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak also happens to be one of the most quotable figures in our collection. Whether reflecting on Death or Music, Maurice Sendak brought uncommon clarity to every subject. 31 of Maurice Sendak's sharpest quotes live here, spanning themes of Death, Music, Mom, Hope, and Happiness. A line that stays with you: "I'm not afraid of death."

“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.”

— Maurice Sendak

Experience

All Quotes by Maurice Sendak

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

— Maurice Sendak

Future

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

— Maurice Sendak

Hope

“Most children - I know I did when I was a kid - fantasize another set of parents. Or fantasize no parents. They don't tell their real parents about that - you don't want to tell Mom and Dad.”

— Maurice Sendak

Dad

“I don't need faith.”

— Maurice Sendak

Faith

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

— Maurice Sendak

Future

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

— Maurice Sendak

Happiness

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

— Maurice Sendak

Music

“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.”

— Maurice Sendak

Trust

“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.”

— Maurice Sendak

Death

“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.”

— Maurice Sendak

Experience

“I'm not afraid of death.”

— Maurice Sendak

Death

“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.”

— Maurice Sendak

Money

“As a kid, all I thought about was death.”

— Maurice Sendak

Death

“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

Anger

“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.”

— Maurice Sendak

Hope

“As a kid, all I thought about was death. But you can't tell your parents that.”

— Maurice Sendak

Death

“Most children - I know I did when I was a kid - fantasize another set of parents. Or fantasize no parents. They don't tell their real parents about that - you don't want to tell Mom and Dad. Kids lead a very private life. And I was a typical child, I think. I was a liar.”

— Maurice Sendak

Dad

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

— Maurice Sendak

Music

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

— Maurice Sendak

Humor

“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.”

— Maurice Sendak

Women