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Authors:

Maurice Sendak quotes about children

American Artist June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012

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Quotes

Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak... Maurice Sendak
If life is so critical, if Anne Frank could die, if my friend could die, children were as vulnerable as adults, and that gave me a secret purpose to my work, to make them live. Because I wanted to live. I wanted to grow up. Maurice Sendak
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
The qualities that make for excellence in children's literature can be summed up in a single word: imagination. And imagination as it relates to the child is, to my mind, synonymous with fantasy. Contrary to most of the propaganda in books for the young, childhood is only partly a time of innocence. It is, in my opinion, a time of seriousness, bewilderment, and a good deal of suffering. It's also possibly the best of all times. Imagination for the child is the miraculous, freewheeling device... Maurice Sendak
. . .from their earliest years children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions, fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, they continually cope with frustrations as best they can. And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things. Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak quote: "And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It..."
And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming wild things. Maurice Sendak
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
I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think. Maurice Sendak
Children do live in fantasy and reality; they move back and forth very easily in a way we no longer remember how to do. As quoted in Questions to an Artist Who Is Also an Author : A Conversation between Maurice Sendak and Virginia Haviland (1972) by Virginia Haviland Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak quote: "Parents shouldn't assume children are made out of sugar candy..."
Parents shouldn't assume children are made out of sugar candy and will break and collapse instantly. Kids don't. We do. Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak quote: "You cannot write for children They're much too complicated...."
You cannot write for children They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them. Maurice Sendak
I said anything I wanted because I don't believe in children I don't believe in childhood. I don't believe that there's a demarcation. 'Oh you mustn't tell them that. You mustn't tell them that.' You tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it's true. If it's true you tell them. Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak quote: "I refuse to lie to children."
I refuse to lie to children. Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak quote: "There's something in this country that is so opposed to..."
There's something in this country that is so opposed to understanding the complexity of children. Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak quote: "I only have one subject. The question I am obsessed with is:..."
I only have one subject. The question I am obsessed with is: How do children survive? Maurice Sendak

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