I had been reading a fabulous book [The Man Verdi, by Frank Walker] about [Giuseppe] Verdi, whom I adore.

Why is my needle stuck in childhood? I don't know why. I guess it's because that's where my heart is.

You don't want to do something that's all terrifying.

I know that if there’s a purpose for life, it was for me to hear Mozart.

Kids lead a very private life.

My father belonged to a Jewish social club.

I had lost my sister recently, too, which meant that my whole family was gone. I was the baby of the family. There were five Sendaks and there were five Wild Things, and now there's only one Sendak, and he's about to bite the dust, too! Life, as I said before, was very difficult at that time and so it was natural that there would be a change in the look of things. Also, I was very impressed with my own strength in doing this under the circumstances in which I was living.