Peter Sis Quotes

People think children's books are about teddy bears and little flowers. I realize people sometimes don't know what to do with my books because they say, 'Is it a children's book, and what age group?'

I had a very comfortable life, but there were people who spent their life in prison, whose families were destroyed.

I am afraid that people will think I re-illustrated 'The Little Prince,' when really, it was more a tribute to him as a dedicated pilot and a man who believed in the goodness of people.

I always think like I was born in the country where everybody ate apples. Then I ended up in the country where everybody eats bananas. So now, I eat bananas so long, I'm just remembering the apples.

I still dream about doing something simple, very simple and universal.

I'm a visual person, so it always starts with a picture, and then I get obsessed with the idea, sometimes too much. I have these blank books in which I take notes, and I add postcards and other physical items.

I still have an accent. But when I return to Prague, I speak the language yet do not know what they are talking about.

How do you visualize something you've never seen and just imagined, through someone you love very much?

My father documented on film for the last time what Tibet looked like before the world got there.

I didn't understand in the beginning that the editor didn't want me to know the author. I'd make an effort to meet the author, but it would end up being a disaster because then I had the author telling me what I should be doing.

When you feel empty, you have to open up your heart and let the wind sweep through it.

I know there are some good American police. But I grew up in a country where we were afraid of the police.

When I do my own books, I take it as more of my own confessional, but when I illustrate for other people, it is intriguing because I feel like I shouldn't be stepping too much into the limelight. It's like playing the piano while someone else is singing.

I grew up in society when lots of things were hidden, and they were not hidden just one way, but it was very complicated.

Ursula Nordstrom was famous for finding artists in unlikely places. Maurice Sendak was a window designer, and she just came across one of his windows. Everyone was looking to find a talent.