“It is our duty to select the best and most dependable theory that human intelligence can supply, and use it as a raft to ride the seas of life.” 

“The first and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.” 

“It is the task of the enlightened not only to ascend to learning and to see the good but to be willing to descend again to those prisoners and to share their troubles and their honors, whether they are worth having or not. And this they must do, even with the prospect of death.” 

“Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from dakness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den. (Included in the introduction to "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes)” 

“Situations can change; people can change. Be the first to seek to bring good. Do not grow accustomed to evil, but defeat it with good.” 

“How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure but it is news when the stock market loses two points?” 

“It is not 'progressive' to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life.” 

“God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.” 

“No one can grow if he does not accept his smallness.” 

“I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” 

Inspiration is some mysterious blessing which happens when the wheels are turning smoothly.

With my pictures, what I hope is that it encourages the reader to imagine more pictures of his own.

I think it is important for children to read different things to find out about their emotions and other people's emotions. It is an enormous source of education and culture.

If you want to read and you want to draw, that helps you to express yourself.

Sometimes people think drawing and painting is mucking about when actually it is a highly skilled activity.

Sometimes I think people get into trouble because they can't say what they want to.

I don't like leaving work behind. I hate the idea that something might be happening on the drawing board at home that I am going to miss.

The hateful thing about most hotels nowadays is that they only have duvets. I hate duvets.

I love the sea, but I avoid any sort of seaside resort that has skyscrapers or seaside entertainments.

I think it is the fact that birds are two-legged, like us, which gives them something of our balance and gesture and makes them nearer to us.

As an illustrator you need to understand the human body - but having looked at and understood nature, you must develop an ability to look away and capture the balance between what you've seen and what you imagine.

I suppose illustration tends to live in the streets, rather than in the hermetically sealed atmosphere of the museum, and consequently it has come to be taken less seriously.

Going to hospital is rather like going to an alien planet.

I draw every day - unless I'm being interviewed.