Kirby Quotes

I tried to, from my very early years, I've been an inveterate movie goer and still am and I, I love the medium. So what I, what I draw and what I'm still doing, is part of that particular orientation. ~ Jack Kirby

Never trust a storyteller," he says. "We're all of us liars. ~ Matthew J. Kirby

I always resent anybody interfering with anybody else trying to do his job. Everybody has his own job to do. If he's good, he'll do well, but if he's mediocre, he's not going to do as well as he should. ~ Jack Kirby

Do what I tell you, when I tell you, and the worst thing that'll happen is you'll fall in love. ~ Jessi Kirby

After a minute I leaned back, elbows on the table, and looked up for the twinkle of the first star in the evening sky. When we were little, it was a ritual Finn and I did on the front porch. He'd make his wish silently, and I would too, but I never could keep a secret; and I'd tell him what I wished every time. He'd always tell me it wouldn't come true, but I didn't believe him. I'd had plenty of them come true, from a new box of crayons showing up out of nowhere to a bag of candy left on my bed. It had been a while, though, and the only thing I'd wish for now was impossible. I found the first star in a patch of burnt-orange sky, above the crinkly purple mountains in the distance, and then I wished my brother back anyway. ~ Jessi Kirby

Giuseppe would miss them as well, but in a different way than he would miss the city. A city would stay the same. The same buildings. The same streets. Not forever, but for a great long while. But Frederick and Hannah would never again be the people they were right now, standing on the dock, wishing him farewell. Tomorrow they would wake up and be a little bit different and a little bit different the day after that, and in no time they might become people he did not recognize. Giuseppe knew it because they were already different from when he had first met them. He knew it because he was different from when they had first met him. ~ Matthew J. Kirby

Kid ... Comics will break your heart. ~ Jack Kirby

The average politician was crooked. That was my ambition, to be a crooked politician. I'd see them in these restaurants, and they'd all hold these conferences. I'd see politicians who were supposed to be on opposite sides of issues all together at one table. ~ Jack Kirby

I didn't have an affinity for horror. But I knew that commercially it was viable. ~ Jack Kirby

Postscript: H - Bring warm clothes and a cat ~ Kirby Larson

If I ruled supreme, there would be big problems. ~ Kirby Larson

I felt the comics grew because they became the common man's literature, the common man's art, the common man's publishing. ~ Jack Kirby

It's not in the draftsmanship, it's in the man. Like I say, a tool is dead. A brush is a dead object. It's in the man. If you want to do it, you do it. ~ Jack Kirby

Liall realized that this was the first time he had really been alone with Scarlet.
He stood up and held out his hand. The blanket dropped from his shoulders. "Come here."
Scarlet reached out to him tentatively and Liall quickly dragged him into his arms. He fits there perfectly, Liall thought, snug if not a little small. Scarlet did not respond at first, as if he would pull away, and for a moment Liall believed he had made a huge mistake. Then, surprisingly, Scarlet sighed and his arms went around Liall's back. Scarlet turned his head to rest his cheek against Liall's bare chest as hey listened to the rain batten on the roof.
"Thank you for saving my life." Liall murmured. ~ Kirby Crow

The murderers of the three Bytyqi brothers, New York residents who were executed by Serbian Ministry of Interior personnel in 1999, have never been prosecuted. The U.S. government cannot accept that the murderers of three of its citizens go unpunished. ~ Michael Kirby

Remember picture books are the closest form of writing to a poem. Even though they don't have to rhyme, they must be poetic. They must be written so the worst actress can read with comfort and expression. ~ Kirby Larson

I have been taking some classes in woodworking. It's really helpful just looking at a problem, and having a very tangible way in constructing it. ~ Luke Kirby

One of the things that kept most comics from being monthly was that very few artists could produce 24 pages per month. Jack Kirby was very much the exception to the rule, but his towering presence at Marvel started to dictate the whole shape of the industry - and that's where problems set in! ~ John Byrne

Now is History as fast as the mind remembers. ~ Kirby Wright

What music do you like?" he asked between calls.

"Cheery, chirpy pop."

Wincing, he pulled up a station that delivered exactly that. "You owe me."

"Come on" - she turned in her seat to face him once more - "it's not that bad."

"I'm sorry? I can't hear you past the sugar blocking my eardrums. ~ Nalini Singh

I learned that famous writers are people with foibles like anyone else and this helped me realize reaching their level of notoriety wasn't impossible. ~ Kirby Wright

Ideas can never be traced to any one source. They are tossed back and forth between people until the decision makers step in and choose what they think is a success formula. ~ Jack Kirby

Everyone wants the people to end up together in the end. It's human nature. The funny thing is, you always know they're going to. You just never know how. ~ Jessi Kirby

Sharing his memories felt like handing over a sharp knife. A knife that others might handle carelessly. A knife that could be used to hurt him. ~ Matthew J. Kirby

A thousand fireworks explode inside me, and I feel them in him too, in his lips on mine, and his hands in my hair, and he way we pull each other closer. Everything else falls away, and in this moment, when we touch, we are light. ~ Jessi Kirby

I was being brought up on peasant stories; my mother came from Europe and she'd been a peasant and that was the area where the Frankensteins and the Draculas came from and it was entertainment for the people. Nobody had TV, and that was the way peasants would entertain themselves, by telling these stories. ~ Jack Kirby

I love visiting new places but am not overly fond of the travel to get to them. ~ Kirby Larson

My monsters were lovable monsters. I gave them names - some were evil and some were good. They made sales, and that's always been my prime object in comics. ~ Jack Kirby

And look at the mess that Russia is; most Chinese don't want to follow that. ~ William Kirby

Stories give you a way to see things. A way to understand the events of your life. Even if you don't realize it while you are hearing the tale. ~ Matthew Kirby

Little victories, they're the ones that counts. ~ Jessi Kirby

My mama always said piecing quilts is like making friends.' She kept her eyes on the scissors as she cut up a piece of blue ticking. 'Sometimes the more different fabrics - and people - are,' she said, 'the stronger the pattern.'
I looked up at her. She smiled a sad, sweet smile at me. I felt as if she'd looked right into my heart and seen all my warts and flaws, and held her own heart out to me anyway. ~ Kirby Larson

I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted patient people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done. ~ Jack Kirby

Hattie.' Grace patted my arm. 'My cows sing better than you do. ~ Kirby Larson

One cannot apologize for one's nature. ~ Matthew J. Kirby

The artist is the lowest form of life on the rung of the ladder. The publishers are usually businessmen who deal with businessmen. They deal with promotional people. They deal with financial people. They deal with accountants. They deal with people who work on higher levels. They deal with tax people, but have absolutely no interest in artists, in individual artists, especially very young artists. ~ Jack Kirby

A man is entitled to draw things in his own style. I didn't hurt Superman. I made him powerful. I admire Superman, but I've got to do my own style. ~ Jack Kirby

Sometimes there's kind of an "ick" factor around talking about anything about gay sexuality, for certain readers. ~ Kirby Dick

I haven't stopped thinking about Orion, and it's made a mess of me. Nothing happened between us. Nothing physical, anyway. We never touched, and after a while, we hardly even spoke. But I felt different. ~ Jessi Kirby

My anatomy was self-taught. I feel everybody has that ability. I drew instinctively. Mine was an instinctive style. ~ Jack Kirby

I began to learn about the universe myself and take it seriously. I know the names of the stars. I know how near or far the heavenly bodies are from our own planet. I know our own place in the universe. I can feel the vastness of it inside myself. I began to realize with each passing fact what a wonderful and awesome place the universe is, and that helped me in comics because I was looking for the awesome. ~ Jack Kirby

A climb-out fight is where you climb a building. You climb fire escapes. You climb to the top of the building. You fight on the roof, and you fight all the way down again. ~ Jack Kirby

So two, together weeping, make one woe. ~ William Kirby

His touch was like an electric current that ran through his fingers into my cheek and down the back of my neck.
I took another step back, away from him. "Don't do that," I whispered and hated the part of myself that died for his soft touch. "Why? Why do you do things like that if you agree we shouldn't be involved? It's confusing and ... and you make it so much worse." My words tumbled over each other as they poured from my mouth.
He didn't reach for me again. His blue eyes were sad. ~ Kirby Howell

Questions are dangerous territory for us. ~ Jessi Kirby

faith and hope are fulfilled and that "only love endures" (1 Cor 13:13). ~ Jeffrey Kirby S.T.L.

My own son feels I'm uncool but my grandson loves me. Being cool or uncool is a generational thing. But as a personal thing, I really love everybody in sight. ~ Jack Kirby

My most vivid memories of those times weren't the actual nuts and bolts, but just pleasant times sitting with Jack [Kirby] in his studio, going over the pages and looking out the window at my kids playing in his swimming pool . ~ Mike Royer

An artist has to be humble, an editor must be officious, and a publisher must be somewhere out in the galaxy enjoying godhood. It was a caste system, pure and simple. And it was accepted that way. Nobody thought of contracts, nobody thought of insisting on better deals. ~ Jack Kirby

I never duck out of a fight; I don't care what the hell the odds are, and I'm rough at times, but I try to be a decent guy all the time. That's the way I've always lived. ~ Jack Kirby

Anyone who wants to be a writer should, if given the opportunity, hang out with "real writers," that is, poets or writers who are lions in literature, semi-lions, or published authors. ~ Kirby Wright

The only bright corner of my heart, where nothing seemed to hurt, was where Grey was. When I thought of him, I could see a future where I could be happy again, where I might not be just like I was before the Crimson Fever, but at least a version of myself that felt whole. ~ Kirby Howell

I achieved perfection, my type of perfection - visual storytelling. Storytelling was my style. ~ Jack Kirby

The most important thing that certainly the United States and other Asian and Pacific actors have done is to urge that whatever happens, however the dispute is resolved, that it be resolved peacefully. ~ William Kirby

Emulation without revelation is rarely profitable. ~ Kirby Clements

Everybody was wary. This was a time when communists marched through the streets, waving flags and shouting. The unions did the same thing so you began to associate them. ~ Jack Kirby

For the first time I realized adults could back themselves into corners so remote that love, or its memory, could no longer reach them. ~ Kirby Wright

I'm not going over there. Not going. Not going. Yeah, it's not working. I do want to go. A few minutes later, my feet are walking. I tell them to stop, but they don't listen. ~ Kirby Quinlan

What if the world was a coloring book and everything white is just waiting to be colored in? ~ Tricia Kirby

I want this day to be my fresh start. I want this to be the day I step out of my comfort zone and go somewhere new. ~ Jessi Kirby

I've never done anything bad. I can't do anything bad. It's got to be professional. It's got to look professional. It's got to read professional. In other words, it serves its purpose by entertaining a reader. ~ Jack Kirby

I taught myself how to draw, and I soon found out it was what I really wanted to do. I didn't think I was going to create any great masterpieces like Rembrandt or Gauguin. I thought comics was a common form of art, and strictly American in my estimation, because America was the home of the common man - and show me the common man that can't do a comic. So comics is an American form of art that anyone can do with a pencil and paper. ~ Jack Kirby

East Asia has prospered since the end of the Vietnam War, and Northeast Asia has prospered since the end of the Korean War in a way that seems unimaginable when you think of the history of the first half of the century. ~ William Kirby

The temperature of my blood dropped several degrees, and I took a step back. My heart quickened. "Storm?" I prompted, looking at the boxes on the dock labeled "non-perishable. ~ Kirby Howell

Change, the uninvited guest that destroys what once was. ~ Kirby Crow

We should get these wet clothes off," I say conscious now of the cold.
A smile breaks over Colton's face. He raises an eyebrow. "Yeah? ~ Jessi Kirby

So, I think China desperately needs to legitimize some form of opposition. ~ William Kirby

It seems to me that the experiences that stay with you, the things you'll always remember, aren't the ones you can force, or go looking for. I've always thought of those things as the ones that somehow find you. ~ Jessi Kirby

[I]t wasn't history that was too fragile, but me. ~ Jessi Kirby

I was afraid of what he might be able to see. Because all of a suddent it didn't feel like we were standing on the beach anymore. It felt like we were balanced on a thin, thin line. That fragile one that divides the invisible space between something and nothing, or before and after. ~ Jessi Kirby

I can't go back. just like with everything else in my life. All I can do at this point is keep going forward. So I do. ~ Jessi Kirby

The hours trampled her on their way through the day. ~ Matthew J. Kirby

In three words I can sum up all that I've learned about: It goes on. ~ Jessi Kirby

He was a wraith of the factories, skinny and tall, with a wobbling gait that broadcast his deformed legs. ~ Kirby Crow

One of my responsibilities is to make sure that justice is done for our citizens ... I want this case to be completed. Until that happens, it will continue to burden our relationship. ~ Michael Kirby

I get back in the Continental and continue down the road to the cafe. Then I pull in and there's Larry Johnson's '57 Ford pickup in the parking lot. As I enter the little cafe, I see Larry and Briggs in the corner, drinking some coffee and having a late breakfast. I go right over and sit down with them. We don't say much. David says something about Kirby getting a job at one of the studios. Kirby is very good with his hands and can fix anything, plus he has a very friendly personality. We are happy for him. Larry has to make a call and gets up, heading for the pay phone in the corner. He has us get him another coffee when the waitress comes back. Briggs looks at me and asks what I've been doing. ~ Neil Young

I'm glad there are organizations like Dale Murphy's I Won't Cheat Foundation. I'm glad there are athletes with standards and morals who kids can look up to and learn from. I'm glad that for every bad example my nephew sees today on ESPN that I can share with him stories about truly heroic ballplayers like Cal Ripken, Jr. or Dale Murphy or Kirby Puckett. ~ Tucker Elliot

MUSINGS
The little poets sing of little things:
Hope, cheer, and faith, small queens and puppet kings;
Lovers who kissed and then were made as one,
And modest flowers waving in the sun.
The mighty poets write in blood and tears
And agony that, flame-like, bites and sears.
They reach their mad blind hands into the night,
To plumb abysses dead to human sight;
To drag from gulfs where lunacy lies curled,
Mad, monstrous nightmare shapes to blast the world.
[click on the thumbnail by Jack "King" Kirby] ~ Robert E. Howard

But almost moments don't count, and it all comes down to the choices I could've made but didn't. ~ Jessi Kirby

The reform of state industry, and most directly related to that, the banking sector, is enormously daunting. ~ William Kirby

Tragedy and death would follow a person whereever he went in life. There was no such thing as escape, except maybe the kind that Mr. Kirby had accomplished ... ~ Joyce Maynard

Though a story may begin as a lie, perhaps it can be made true. Perhapsd their ultimate power is found in how they inspire us to action. ~ Matthew J. Kirby

That is a rare gift, Alexyin, for another person to see every ugliness in you and still be able to find that part of you that they can love, that can love them back. ~ Kirby Crow

When he saw Tyler, his face went serious, which struck me as comical. Andy had always been protective, but when it came to me having anything to do with guys, he felt it was his duty to inform and protect me from the ones he thought were most like himself. When I turned thirteen, he pulled me aside and we had his version of 'the talk,' which mostly consisted of a bunch of 'uhs' and 'ums,' but I got the gist of his speech: boys only wanted one thing, and I shouldn't give it to them until I was at least thirty-three. And married. ~ Jessi Kirby

Every town has its stories. Stories that have been told so many times by so many different people they've worked themselves into the collective consciousness as truth. ~ Jessi Kirby

At some point in your adult life, you've probably walked into a party and felt a frisson of relief upon discovering at least one woman there who was fatter, uglier, and/or dressed more inappropriately than you. We sure have. But if you want to have any hope of making peace with your own body, you need to knock that shit off.

We're not even telling you to stop just because it's nasty, petty, and beneath you to judge other women so harshly; it is, but because you're not a saint, and neither are we. We're telling you to stop because it's actually in your own self-interest to stop being such a bitch. 'Cause you know what happens when you quit saying that crap about other women? You magically stop saying it about yourself so much, too.

Judging other women negatively creates a constant stream of nasty thoughts in your head. It is inevitable that you will end up applying those same standards to yourself. We think we're building ourselves up when we do this but, really, we're just tearing other people down to our level. And we hate to go all Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood on you, but tearing other people down isn't really productive. It leaves you in the same place you started, which is full of loathing for your own body. ~ Marianne Kirby

I know that evil hides here, but I cannot be the one to uncover it. Neither can any of you. Time will do that for us.
And how I fear that day, for I know that when I look into my betrayer's face, I will see someone I thought I knew. And I will still love them. ~ Matthew J. Kirby

Without the plankton the sea would be a barren wilderness ~ Richard R. Kirby

Of course, mothers were very conventional, everything was very conventional. You had to have approval. ~ Jack Kirby

I was laughing and he was too, and there we were, tangled up together in the water and sunshine. In a good kind of way. ~ Jessi Kirby

Life is made of moments. and choices. Not all of them matter, or have any lasting impact. Skipping class in favor of a taste of freedom, picking a prom dress because of the way it transforms you into a princess in the mirror. Even the nights you steal away from an open window, tiptoe silent to the end of the driveway, where darkened headlights and the pull of something unknown beckon. These are all small choices, really. Insignificant as soon as they're made. Innocent.
But then.
Then there's a different kind of moment. One when things are irrevocably changed by a choice we make. A moment we will play endlessly in our minds on lonely nights and empty days. One we'll search repeatedly for some indication that what we chose was right, some small sign that tells us the truth isn't nearly as awful as it feels. Or as awful as anyone would think if they knew.
So we explain it to ourselves, justify it enough to sleep. And then we bury it deep, so deep we can almost pretend it never happened. But as much as we wish it were different, the truth is, our worlds are sometimes balanced on choices we make and the secrets we keep. ~ Jessi Kirby

What I mean is,how does he somehow know to show me things I didn't realize I needed to see, or take me places I wouldn't have guessed I needed to go? ~ Jessi Kirby

Drawing a good figure doesn't make you a good artist. I can name you ten men, right off the bat, who draw better than I do. But I don't think their work gets as much response as mine. I can't think of a better man to draw Dick Tracy than Chester Gould, who certainly is no match for Leonardo Da Vinci. But Chester Gould told the story of Dick Tracy. He told the story of Dick Tracy the way it should have been told. No other guy could have done it. It's not in the draftsmanship, it's in the man.

Like I say, a tool is dead. A brush is a dead object. It's in the man.

If you want to do, you do it. If you think a man draws the type of hands that you want to draw, steal 'em. Take those hands.

The only thing I can say is: Caniff was my teacher, Alex Raymond was my teacher, even the guy who drew Toonerville Trolley was my teacher. Whatever he had stimulated me in some way. And I think that's all you need. You need that stimulation. Stimulation to make you an individual. And the draftsmanship, hang it. If you can decently: learn to control what you can, learn to control what you have, learn to refine what you have. Damn perfection. You don't have to be perfect. You are never going to do a Sistine Chapel, unless someone ties you to a ceiling. Damn perfection.

All a man has in this field is pressure. And I think the pressure supplies a stimulation. You have your own stresses, that will supply your own stimulation. If you want to do it, you'll do ~ Jack Kirby

How many people have gotten older and forgotten about the things they hoped for and dreamed about when they were young? Or given up without ever taking a chance, or settled in life because it's easier, or they're scared, or whatever other excuses? How many people need a reminder of who they once were? ~ Jessi Kirby

There are a lot of actors who are doing dream work where they focus on a role and try to bring it into their dreams. I haven't done that work, but I've always found that when I'm studying for a role, the work I'm doing somehow manages to enter my dreams, no matter what approach I take. ~ Luke Kirby

You're going to wake up one day, and you're gonna realize he's moved on. He'll quit trying to win you back. And you'll regret it. And if there's anything The Plague taught me, it's that there isn't time for regret anymore. ~ Kirby Howell

I like comedy a lot. I love comedy. It's so much fun, but it's hard, too. ~ Kirby Bliss Blanton

Homo Sapiens and their guns. ~ Jack Kirby

Nothing could be left to chance, because chance, after all, can be dangerous. But what I didn't realize all that time, what I missed all along, is that chance is everywhere. It's also what life is made of. It's all around us, but most of the time we never see it working. ~ Jessi Kirby

Shad ignored my sudden lack of interest. "Stop overanalyzing and be happy. You should try the Shad lifestyle, Miss Winters. It's more panda bear and less porcupine."
"Huh?"
"More black and white and cuddly, and less, well ... alone and pointy. ~ Kirby Howell