I grew up in a house that was in a constant state of mourning.

As a kid, all I thought about was death. But you can't tell your parents that.

And it's one of the sexiest things you will ever read of how slow you should take the peach. Don't rush it.

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.

Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.

And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things.

I don't believe in an afterlife but I still fully expect to see my brother again.