"And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all."
- Maurice Sendak
"I have nothing now but praise for my life. I'm not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more..."
"Sendak is in search of what he calls a "yummy death". William Blake set the standard, jumping up from his death bed at the last minute to start singing. "A happy death," says Sendak. "It can be done."..."
"The day after Paul Newman was dead, he was twice as dead."
"Each month is gay,Each season nice,When eatingChicken soupWith rice"
"I remember my own childhood vividly...I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew. It would scare them"
"It's only adults who read the top layers most of the time. I think children read the internal meanings of everything."
". . .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..."
"And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming wild things."
"It is sometimes hard to be a family."