Chris Ware > Quotes

“There is absolutely no single aspect of one’s personality that is more important to develop than empathy, which is not a skill at which men typically are asked to excel. I believe empathy is not only the core of art, literature and music, but should also be at the core of society, from ethics to economics.”
― Chris Ware

“One of the most valuable things one of my art teachers said to me was, ‘Don’t get upset by criticism. Value the fact that at least someone noticed what you did.”
― Chris Ware

“METAPHOR: A tightly fitting suit of metal, generally tin, which entirely encloses the wearer, both impeding free movement and preventing emotional expression and/or social contact.”
― Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

“I guess we all make choices as to how we want to live, right?”
― Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

“The whole experience reminded me of my own 'old lady' phase that I went through in high school while I was reading Somerset Maugham... The embroidered sweaters, the costume jewelry... I remember genuinely WANTING to be old then, to act as if the business of my life was already all but over, and that I was preternaturally wise because of it...

God, the stupid things you'll do to try and meet boys...”
― Chris Ware, Building Stories

“Every couple of years or so, when Daniel Clowes releases a new book, one can almost sense the rectal contraction across the collective seat of our humble profession.”
― Chris Ware, The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist

“This life we endure - how strange, yet how jolly”
― Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

“Every city began as a campsite”
― Chris Ware, The Acme Novelty Date-book, Vol. 2: 1995-2002

“The sound
of One Lung
filling with water

drowned out by wave after wave
of a million buzzing insects

an invisible chorus
that only knows how to sing

the last letter
of the alphabet.”
― Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

“Understand that being able to say, 'I don't know what to do with my life' is an incredible privilege that 99% of the rest of the world will never enjoy.”
― Chris Ware

“Unlike prose writing, the strange process of writing with pictures encourages associations and recollections to accumulate literally in front of your eyes; people, places, and events appear out of nowhere. Doors open into rooms remembered from childhood, faces form into dead relatives, and distant loves appear, almost magically, on the page- all deceptively manageable, visceral, the combinations sometimes even revelatory.”
― Chris Ware, McSweeney's Issue 13: An Assorted Sampler of North American Comic Drawings, Strips, and Illustrated Stories

“Conveniently then he can forget it all exists. And, after a time only a general notion will remain in his mind, that there are places where he doesn't belong, and those where he seems to fall right in.”
― Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

“It's somehow more comforting to imagine that one's suffering is unique, and to measure against what one doesn't know, rather than against what one does.”
― Chris Ware, Building Stories

“I mean, if all we are is bundles of energy... what is a 'hug' anyway?... and how can we ever really touch each other?”
― Chris Ware, Building Stories

“Newly Found Sugary Spill: Tastes Like Dried Spit or Old Soda”
― Chris Ware, Building Stories

“[P]eople, who seek the companionship of like minds and bodies, cannot simply be thrown together and expect to thrive.”
― Chris Ware, Rusty Brown

“Even the disappointing diffusion of a sheer curtain can suggest the most colorful bouquet of unspeakable secrets.”
― Chris Ware, Building Stories

“...the nest is agiggle with excitement.”
― Chris Ware, Building Stories

“LONELY (lōn'lē) adj. Alone, or by oneself. The permament state of being for all humans, despite any efforts to the contrary. Can be soothed or subdued in a variety of ways, viz. marriage, sexual intercourse, board games, literature, music, poetry, television, party hats, pastries, etc., but cannot be solved.”
― Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

“Comics are essentially about memory, anyway: every drawing, general setting and expression that goes into an author's work in comics is the direct distillation of his or her perception, whether the story being told is real or imagined.”
― Chris Ware