You cannot write for children They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.

We’ve educated children to think that spontaneity is inappropriate. Children are willing to expose themselves to experiences. We aren’t. Grownups always say they protect their children, but they’re really protecting themselves. Besides, you can’t protect children. They know everything.

Because love is so enormous, the only thing you can think of doing is swallowing the person that you love entirely.

It's no fun being lonely.

Dreams raise the emotional level of what I'm doing at the moment.

'Hansel and Gretel' is one of the scariest stories ever written! Psychotic mother; stupid, inane father.

For my father the one calamity was that my brother and sister and I never learned to swim. My father, who was very macho, was a strong swimmer and was terribly disappointed to have children who didn't swim. Once when my mother was sitting in a beach chair - I can still see the big umbrella - she called to my father, "Throw them in! Throw them in! They'll swim!" So he did. Then he looked down, and there were the three Sendak children lying perfectly still underwater, not fighting for life!