Jack Kirby > Quotes

“Once we've learned enough about the universe we will admit to ourselves that we will never know everything.”
― Jack Kirby

“All life on Earth is subject to the rumbles and rockings of the parent stucture which has no control over the disastrous effects of its stresses and strains on whatever thrives on its surface. The ambitions and dreams of men are irrelevant to this planetary giant which pursues its own way in its own manner. Man is its child, tenant and still, to this date, its captive.”
― Jack Kirby

“I'm OMAC! Evacuate this section! I'm going to destroy it!”
― Jack Kirby

“Remember how unimportant you are because that knowledge will gain you more respect than someone who thinks the world revolves around them.”
― Jack 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 it. And you’ll do it anyway you can.”
― Jack Kirby

“Life at best is bittersweet.”
― Jack Kirby

“It's not letting your anger out that gets people hurt. Its keeping the anger locked up in side that hurts you.”
― Jack Avery Kirby

“Homo Sapiens and their guns.”
― Jack Kirby

“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

“Kid... comics will break your heart.”
― Jack Kirby

“Aw, where we come from the Anti-Life Equation is one of many others--almost as awesome!! But they merely exist!!”
― Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, Vol. 2

“A good commander can beat the odds. A great commander can beat the gods.”
― Jack Kirby

“It's funny how easy it is to point out other peoples mistakes and make our own mistakes seem insignificant.”
― Jack Kirby

“The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I'd beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it.”
― Jack Kirby