Children surviving childhood is my obsessive theme and my life's concern, — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
Grown-ups are afraid for children. It's not children who are afraid. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I don't write for children. I write and someone says it's for children. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I only have one subject. The question I am obsessed with is: How do children survive? — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
William Blake really is important, my cornerstone. Nobody ever told me before he did that childhood was such a damned serious business. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I've convinced myself - I hope I'm right - that children despair of you if you don't tell them the truth. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
Why is my needle stuck in childhood? I don't know why. I guess it's because that's where my heart is. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I do not remember any proper children's books in my childhood. I was not exposed to them. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
The magic of childhood is the strangeness of childhood — the uniqueness that makes us see things that other people don't see. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I was a very sickly child. My parents were immigrants. They were not decorous. They were not discreet. They always thought I… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
Bumble-Ardy is a very wicked little child as far as I'm concerned. He's not to be trusted. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
That always seemed to be the most critical test that a child was confronted with - loss of parents, loss of direction,… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
It was inconceivable to me as a child that I would be an adult. I mean, one assumed that it would happen,… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
Most children - I know I did when I was a kid - fantasize another set of parents. Or fantasize no parents.… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
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… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
As a child, I felt that books were holy objects, to be caressed, rapturously sniffed, and devotedly provided for. I gave my… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I think there is something barbaric in children, and it's missing in lots of books for them because we don't like to… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
Certainly we want to protect our children from new and painful experiences that are beyond their emotional comprehension and that intensify anxiety;… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
Most children - I know I did when I was a kid - fantasize another set of parents. Or fantasize no parents.… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
“so that it isn't upsetting to anybody. It's something we've always known about fairy tales – they talk about incest, the Oedipus… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
If I have an unusual gift, it's not that I draw particularly better than other people - I've never fooled myself about… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
“[There are] games children must conjure up to combat an awful fact of childhood: the fact of their vulnerability to fear, anger,… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I believe there is no part of our lives, our adult as well as child life, when we're not fantasizing, but we… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I think it is unnatural to think that there is such a thing as a blue-sky, white-clouded happy childhood for anybody. Childhood… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
. . .from their earliest years children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions, fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
“Certainly we want to protect our children from new and painful experiences that are beyond their emotional comprehension and that intensify anxiety;… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
I don't believe in things literally for children. That's a reduction. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
How do you write for children? I really have never figured that out. So I decided to just ignore it — Maurice Sendak Copy Share Image
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… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share
I was a very sickly child. My parents were immigrants. They were not decorous. They were not discreet. They always thought I was gonna… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share
The fan mail I get from kids are asking me questions which they do not ask their mothers and fathers. Because if they had,… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share
“May I ask what you have in your black leather bag with gold buckles?" "Everything." They were climbing a narrow staircase. Rhoda stopped to… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share
Illustrations have as much to say as the text. The trick is to say the same thing, but in a different way. It's no… — Maurice Sendak Copy Share
I've convinced myself - I hope I'm right - that children despair of you if you don't tell them the truth. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share
You cannot write for children They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them. — Maurice Sendak Copy Share
![“I think there is something barbaric in children, and it's missing in lots of books for them because we don't like to think of it. We want them to be happy [but] childhood is a very tough time.” quote by Maurice Sendak](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/453/maurice-sendak-1273_barbaric_i-think-there-is-something-barbaric-in-c_1585478.jpg)
![“[There are] games children must conjure up to combat an awful fact of childhood: the fact of their vulnerability to fear, anger, hate and frustration - all the emotions that are an ordinary part of their lives and that they can perceive only as as ungovernable and dangerous forces. To master these…” quote by Maurice Sendak](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/7d4/maurice-sendak-1273_anger-hate_there-are-games-children-must-conjure-up_1784362.jpg)
