Literary Birthday – 10 June – Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak was born 10 June 1928, and died 8 May 2012.

Memorable Quotes

1. It was inconceivable to me as a child that I would be an adult. I mean, one assumed that would happen, but obviously it didn’t happen, or if it did, it happened when your back was turned, and then suddenly you were there.
2. A book is really like a lover. It arranges itself in your life in a way that is beautiful.
3. I want to be alone and work until the day my heads hits the drawing table and I’m dead. Kaput. I feel very much like I want to be with my brother and sister again. They’re nowhere. I know they’re nowhere and they don’t exist, but if nowhere means that’s where they are, that’s where I want to be.
4. There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready.
5. 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 have nothing now but praise for my life.
6. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can’t stop them. They leave me and I love them more.
7. You cannot write for children. They’re much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.
8. Hansel and Gretel is one of the scariest stories ever written! Psychotic mother; stupid, inane father.
9. I have a little tiny Emily Dickinson so big that I carry in my pocket everywhere. And you just read three poems of Emily. She is so brave. She is so strong. She is such a sexy, passionate, little woman. I feel better.
10. Parents shouldn’t assume children are made out of sugar candy and will break and collapse instantly.
11. You know who my gods are, who I believe in fervently? Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson – she’s probably the top – Mozart, Shakespeare, Keats. These are wonderful gods who have gotten me through the narrow straits of life.
12. There’s so much more to a book than just the reading.

Maurice Sendak was an American illustrator and writer of children’s books. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are.

by Amanda Patterson

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