Van Allsburg Quotes: top 52 famous quotes about Van Allsburg

Van Allsburg Quotes & Sayings

Happy to read and share the best inspirational Van Allsburg quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.

I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write. — Chris Van Allsburg

I think, for the most part, our culture embraces that artists are born, not made. — Chris Van Allsburg

As long as I can remember, I've always loved to draw. But my interest in drawing wasn't encouraged very much. — Chris Van Allsburg

I believe that there will be many things that happen to me in my life that I will not be able to explain. Some of those might be magic. I'm not sure. — Chris Van Allsburg

A good picture book should have events that are visually arresting - the pictures should call attention to what is happening in the story. — Chris Van Allsburg

I think parents generally know what's best for their children. But I suppose it's possible to be overprotective. — Chris Van Allsburg

I'm not surprised that my books appeal to adults. — Chris Van Allsburg

Even the most complicated stories start with a very simple premise. — Chris Van Allsburg

I don't like to travel. Yet all my books seem to involve a journey. — Chris Van Allsburg

Following my muse has worked out pretty well so far. I can't see any reason to change the formula now. — Chris Van Allsburg

I have lots of ideas. The problem for me has always been which one to do. — Chris Van Allsburg

There must be something to think about at the end. — Chris Van Allsburg

Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite relevant. Besides, it makes me feel great. — Chris Van Allsburg

I sculpted for four or five years. Mostly for my own amusement, I decided to do a picture book, and that was kind of a turning point. — Chris Van Allsburg

I don't know if what kids really want is a hamster. What they want is a dog. So the hamster ends up being a substitute: 'Well, would you accept this?' — Chris Van Allsburg

I'm not a perfectionist. I'm just very observant. — Chris Van Allsburg

In the same way that a mundane object can have a personality somehow, I try to suggest that a mundane setting can have some menace behind it. — Chris Van Allsburg

The theory of isolation of certain tasks in certain hemispheres of the brain suggests I shouldn't even be able to speak, never mind write. — Chris Van Allsburg

Certain peer pressures encourage little fingers to learn how to hold a football instead of a crayon. I confess to having yielded to these pressures. — Chris Van Allsburg

As the years went by I became a writer and illustrator, although exclusively of fantasies. — Chris Van Allsburg

I was about 28-29 when I wrote my first story, and that was called 'The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.' — Chris Van Allsburg

I take my ideas from my experiences. — Chris Van Allsburg

It seems to me that not only the writing in most children's books condescends to kids, but so does the art. I don't want to do that. — Chris Van Allsburg

My ideas are not meant to suggest dreams or reality, but a surreal quality. — Chris Van Allsburg

Its not bad to be different. Sometimes it's the mark of being very very talented. — Chris Van Allsburg

Peter Rabbit's not a rabbit. Peter Rabbit is a proxy for the child who reads the book, and they imagine themselves in the rabbit's position. — Chris Van Allsburg

There's definitely a value in being literate. — Chris Van Allsburg

They don't send people from large corporations to hire people to make sculptures. — Chris Van Allsburg

My stories are often a little mysterious. — Chris Van Allsburg

As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk, I don't really believe it can happen. — Chris Van Allsburg

It's not in the interest of the artist to think of his market. — Chris Van Allsburg

I'm sensitive to the things I see. — Chris Van Allsburg

I've always thought of the book as a visual art form, and it should represent a single artistic idea, which it does if you write your own material. — Chris Van Allsburg

I'm always a bit disappointed when I've finished working on a book. — Chris Van Allsburg

The crudest thing I've done as a teacher was to require students to write a national anthem for their country and sing it themselves. — Chris Van Allsburg

I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head. — Chris Van Allsburg

The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what's fascinating to me. — Chris Van Allsburg

Your house is all about routine, not the unexpected events of your life. — Chris Van Allsburg

I like the gizmos that transport people. — Chris Van Allsburg

'The Polar Express' began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, 'What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?' — Chris Van Allsburg

I am never really surprised at the way my books take shape. They are just not as perfect as I'd like them to be. — Chris Van Allsburg

I've heard stories about authors filled with this kind of Lotto-winner hubris. I'm a Dutch boy from the Midwest. We don't have hubris. — Chris Van Allsburg

I have very positive memories of reading biographies of unusual Americans as a child. — Chris Van Allsburg

What kids are exposed to on television is more frightening and horrifying than what they see in my books. — Chris Van Allsburg

If I'm not working on something, I'm eager to work on something because it's so gratifying. — Chris Van Allsburg

An award does not change the quality of a book. — Chris Van Allsburg

Authors of books are not given very much control over the films that are made from their books. — Chris Van Allsburg

Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic. — Chris Van Allsburg

I think it's difficult to forget things that are unresolved. — Chris Van Allsburg

If you don't know where you're going, stop racing to get there.
from Just Desert by M. T. Anderson — Chris Van Allsburg

I pore over every word on the cereal box at breakfast, often more than once. You can ask me anything about shredded wheat. — Chris Van Allsburg

I don't think ordinary things are very interesting, so I try to imagine a world that is less ordinary. — Chris Van Allsburg