I prefer to imagine that my wife, a few friends, and occasionally my mom are the only ones who read what I do, though I realize that this is somewhat unrealistic.

I don't think of myself as an illustrator. I think of myself as a cartoonist. I write the story with pictures - I don't illustrate the story with the pictures.

The thing I don't understand is why so often one hears discussion of the fruits of human labor as if it's all the creation of some alien race.

A book sometimes seems to impose a through-line to life that real life doesn't actually have.

The modern world seems to make fun of people in a lot of ways.

Even the disappointing diffusion of a sheer curtain can suggest the most colorful bouquet of unspeakable secrets.

One of the most valuable things one of my art teachers said to me was, ‘Don’t get upset by criticism. Value the fact that at least someone noticed what you did.

I believe that the development of language - of naming, categorization, conceptualization - destroys our ability to see as we age.

Comics, at least in periodical form, exist almost entirely free of any pretense; the critical world of art hardly touches them, and they're 100% personal.

Mostly, I was only interested in television as a kid, and the majority of reading material I collected was an adjunct to that central concern, comic books and magazines included.

No one blames themselves if they don't understand a cartoon, as they might with a painting or "real" art; they simply think it's a bad cartoon.

The trouble was that he was talking in philosophy but they were listening in gibberish.

Great achievement requires personal force, determined spirit and self-confidence.

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.

Take my will and make it Thine It shall be no longer mine Take my heart it is Thine own It shall be Thy royal throne.

Can the knowledge deriving from reason even begin to compare with knowledge perceptible by sense?

Nothing outside you can ever give you what you're looking for.

We are not just humans learning to become buddhas, but also buddhas waking up in human form, learning to become fully human.

In old age, mirror is not a friend!

When you're hurting another person, past a certain point you're cracking them open and whatever's inside them gets all over you. So you should kinda check out whether you want that to happen.

There is no right language or wrong language any more than there are right or wrong clothes.