Maira Kalman Quotes

Go out and walk. That is the glory of life, ~ Maira Kalman

I still do have the little lunch bag that my mother made out of a towel and embroidered with my name on it for when I went to kindergarten. ~ Maira Kalman

All terrific but the people. THE PEOPLE. Everyone looks so exalted, or so wretched, or so spiffy, so funny, so splendid. If you are ever bored or blue, stand on the street corner for half an hour. ~ Maira Kalman

We could speak about the meaning of life vis-a-vis non-consequential/deontological theories, apodictic transformation schemata, the incoherence of exemplification, metaphysical realism, Cartesian interactive dualism, revised non reductive dualism, postmodernist grammatology and dicey dichotomies. But we would still be left with Nietzsche's preposterous mustache which instills great anguish and skepticism in the brain, which leads (as it did in his case) to utter madness. I suggest we go to Paris instead. ~ Maira Kalman

I don't listen to the news. I don't read the newspaper unless it's eccentric information - and the obituaries, of course. ~ Maira Kalman

I don't like anything permanent; I have to be able to flee. You have to be able to flee at a moment's notice. ~ Maira Kalman

I have been working for over 30 years and am always wondering about where I am and where I am going. It does not stop and become a fixed event of achievement. ~ Maira Kalman

I'm in a complete state of panic before I begin something because I'm sure that it's going to be a complete disaster. I'm going to do a worse job than anybody could ever imagine anybody doing on the planet Earth. ~ Maira Kalman

I don't like plots. I don't know what a plot means. I can't stand the idea of anything that starts in the beginning - you know, 'beginning, middle and end.' ~ Maira Kalman

Useless and precious objects. Taking up space. Taking up time. ~ Maira Kalman

Oh, Tocqueville, you're the man. ~ Maira Kalman

Soon enough it will be me struggling (valiantly?) to walk - lugging my stuff around. How are we all so brave as to take step after step? Day after day? How are we so optimistic, so careful not to trip and yet do trip, and then get up and say O.K. Why do I feel so sorry for everyone and so proud? ~ Maira Kalman

In any work you do, you can be profound one minute, and then you be superficial the next, and you can be smart and insightful and then insipid. There can be room for all that. ~ Maira Kalman

If I could never work again and I could just listen to music and walk, I'd be very, very happy. ~ Maira Kalman

The ability to take a walk from one point to the next point, that is half the battle won. ~ Maira Kalman

Flowers lead to books, which lead to thinking and not thinking and then more flowers and music, music. Then many more flowers and many more books. ~ Maira Kalman

He is a monk. On his card it says INNER PEACE CENTER. I will go there in February for a tea ceremony. Does he actually know more than I do about inner peace? If he met my relatives, would he have a nervous breakdown? What about his relatives? Do they drive him nuts? The truth is everybody gets on everybody's nerves. ~ Maira Kalman

The man stands behind the man.
The seated man thinks,
"For heaven's sake, stop standing behind me.
You are driving me mad. It is February and it is impossible.
Someone has thrown onion skins all over the stairwell. Now I will have to clean them up - though I love to sweep. But still, it is disgusting."
But all he says is "I have to go soon."
Why can't people tell the truth?
It is impossible not to lie.
It is February and not lying is impossible. ~ Maira Kalman

My short attention span has allowed me a life of diversity in work and place. ~ Maira Kalman

Maira Kalman says, Avoiding work is the way to focus my mind. ~ Austin Kleon

I like Thomas Jefferson, though he intimidated me. I thought he would have been very tough to be around. I don't know if he had such a sense of humor. ~ Maira Kalman

My dream is to walk around the world. A smallish backpack, all essentials neatly in place. A camera. A notebook. A traveling paint set. A hat. Good shoes. A nice pleated (green?) skirt for the occasional seaside hotel afternoon dance. ~ Maira Kalman

I tell you these stories because these things happen to everyone. It's not about being starched or polished or cute or polite. It's about having ears that stick out, about breaking yet another glass. It's about seeing something for the first time and making a million mistakes and not ever getting completely discouraged. ~ Maira Kalman

My sister is an artist and an interior designer. She went to high school for art. I went to high school for music. ~ Maira Kalman

You'd have to be completely crazy not to be influenced by and take from other artists. It's completely impossible not to. ~ Maira Kalman

The most inspiring objects are books. I have about 5,000 volumes in my home library. It's an unending source of visuals and ideas. ~ Maira Kalman

On the wall was a dress that I embroidered. It said "Ich Habe Genug." Which is a Bach Cantata. Which I once thought meant "I've had it, I can't take anymore, give me a break." But I was wrong.
It means "I have enough." And that is utterly true. I happen to be alive. End of discussion. But I will go out and buy a hat. ~ Maira Kalman

I have many questions, but no patience to think them through. ~ Maira Kalman

I like the brooding man - a brooding man with a sense of humor. ~ Maira Kalman

Washing dishes is the anecdote to confusion. I know that for a fact. ~ Maira Kalman

The book. Calming object. Held in the hand. ~ Maira Kalman

The hours are numerous and the clock seldom measures the time that passes inside us, the real lifetime, and because of this many days can fit into a few hours, and vice versa, and numbers of years can be an imprecise measure of a man's lifetime, he who dies at forty has perhaps actually lived much longer than he who dies at ninety. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

It isn't always easy to tolerate poetry; it can take a person in unexpected directions. I was given wings, but where is the air in which to fly? ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

Where do dreams end, where does reality begin? Dreams come from within, they trickle in from the world that we all have inside us, possibly distorted, but what isn't distorted, what isn't dented? I love you today, hate you tomorrow - he who never changes is lying to the world. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

Nothing is sweet to me, without thee."
"I just don't know who I am. I don't know why I am.
And I'm not entirely sure I'll be given time to find out. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

Pictures are so good at giving people information that they're not looking for. ~ Tibor Kalman

There can be such a gulf between one's exterior and interior lives, and this should tell us something, it should teach us not to trust appearances too much; he who does so misses the essence. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

One touch can say more than all the world's words, that's true, but the touch fades with the years and then we need words again, they're our weapons against time, death, forgetfulness, unhappiness. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

She'd rather make love to him then watch any movie. "We don't have to. Did I do something wrong?"
That made him turn to her. "Of course not."
"Oh. Then don't you want to ... " She trailed off, a blush rising.
"Are you kidding me? More than anything." His expression softened. "But, Maira, I don't want to rush you, make you do something you aren't ready for."
She stared at him. He was so pretty. Was he also stone-cold stupid?
How could he think she wasn't ready for it? She'd already thrown herself at him. Twice now, if he counted the kitchen disaster. ~ Alisha Rai

I'm not against beauty, it just sounds boring to me. ~ Tibor Kalman

The most burdensome thing is not to know how to live, to know the notes but to be unable to sing them. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

He who has no dream is in danger ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

I use contrary-ism in every part of my life. ~ Tibor Kalman

Those who read so much literature that they think they can swim to the Moon should be allowed to live longer.
The world can't afford to lose such people. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

We cry because language is imperfect and fails to reach all the way down to the bottom-most depths of life, not even halfway down into the deepest charms, our tears begin where our words stop, are they messages from the abyss, the unspoiled depths? ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

Good designers are no longer satisfied in taking the manuscript from someone and making it look nice. One of the things that I've tried to do is move from being a designer to a content provider. ~ Tibor Kalman

Everything is an experiment. ~ Tibor Kalman

Some people ... cling to the idea that the photograph is an inherently real or honest image and as such is always on a different plane from an obviously subjective form of visual communication such as painting. ~ Tibor Kalman

To me, nothing is more vibrant than having the power to do something but not having the experience of knowing what's right and what's wrong. ~ Tibor Kalman

Edits are very important to me - they're the way in which I work on everything. ~ Tibor Kalman

If you don't have an idea, all you have is style. ~ Tibor Kalman

He wants to accomplish something in life, learn languages, see the world, read a thousand books, he wants to discover whether there is any core, but sometimes it's hard to think and read when one is stiff and sore after a difficult fishing voyage, wet and cold after twelve hours' working in the meadows, when his thoughts can be so heavy that he can hardly lift them, then it's a long way to the core. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

The best solution for little problems is to help people with big problems. ~ Kalman Packouz

The perfect state of creative bliss is having power (you are 50) and knowing nothing (you are 9). This assures an interesting and successful outcome. ~ Tibor Kalman

I'm not as good a writer as I'd like to be; therefore, I like to use images to tell stories. ~ Tibor Kalman

If someone is going to permit me to make a publication that is politically and culturally progressive and not tell me to put their favorite movie stars on the cover, if I get to do what I want in an honest way - as I did in the beginning at 'Colors' - then I'm going to do it. ~ Tibor Kalman

Hell is having arms but no one to embrace. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

Let's face it: we live at a time when government is less and less powerful, less and less effective, and the agent of social change, at least for the immediate future, is the corporation. ~ Tibor Kalman

Think like an artist. Dress like an insurance salesman. ~ Tibor Kalman

Between the lines thoughts were felt. In a way words could never read. ~ Maira Cheeda

Some poems take us places where no words reach, no thought, they take you up to the core itself, life stops for one moment and becomes beautiful, it becomes clear with regret and happiness. Some poems change the day, the night, your life. Some poems make you forget, forget the sadness, the hopelessness, you forget your waterproof, the frost comes to you, says, got you, and you're dead. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

Bardur and the boy had leaned back a bit and looked at the sparkling sky that makes us humble and powerful at once and seems sometimes to speak to us. What is says carefully cleanses old wounds. ~ Jon Kalman Stefansson

What is said determines who listens and who understands. Graphic design is a language, but graphic designers are so busy worrying about the nuances - accents, punctuation and so on - that they spend little time thinking about what the words add up to. I'm interested in using our communication skills to change the way things are. ~ Tibor Kalman

We live in a society and a culture and an economic model that tries to make everything look right. Look at computers. Why are they all putty-colored or off-fucking-white? You make something off-white or beige because you are afraid to use any other color – because you don't want to offend anybody. But by definition, when you make something no one hates, no one loves it. So I am interested in imperfections, quirkiness, insanity, unpredictability. That's what we really pay attention to anyway. We don't talk about planes flying; we talk about them crashing. ~ Tibor Kalman