Maurice Sendak

“Let the wild rumpus start!”

“There must be more to life than having everything.”

“Inside all of us is a Wild Thing.”

“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.”

“I write with pictures, and I illustrate with words.”

“You cannot write for children. They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.”

“It is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things.”

“Children are tough, though. They are wiser and more competent than we think.”

“Adulthood is a myth.”

“I don't believe in children. I don't believe in childhood. I don't believe that there's a demarcation... You tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it's true.”

“But the wild things cried, 'Oh please don't go—we'll eat you up—we love you so!'”

“There's so much more to a book than just the reading.”

“I think it is unnatural to think that there is such a thing as a blue-sky, white-clouded happy childhood for anybody.”

“If I have an unusual gift, it's not that I draw particularly well... it is that I have been able to retain a child's-eye view of life.”

“I'm not a happy man, but I'm a man in a good mood.”

“I am not a person who is particularly in love with the child-like. I am in love with the truth of childhood.”

“It is a blessing to get old. It is a blessing to find the time to do the things, to read the books, to listen to the music.”

“I don't write for children. I write. And somebody says, 'That's for children!'”