Quotes by American authors

"Success is a journey, not a destination"

"There was a great deal of peer recognition to be gained in elementary school by being able to draw well. One girl could draw horses so well, she was looked upon as a kind of sorceress"

"A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit"

"I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head"

"Happy is the person who knows what to remember of the past, what to enjoy in the present, and what to plan for in the future"

"At first, I see pictures of a story in my mind. Then creating the story comes from asking questions of myself. I guess you might call it the 'what if - what then' approach to writing and illustration"

"Following my muse has worked out pretty well so far. I can't see any reason to change the formula now"

"We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own"

"Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite relevant. Besides, it makes me feel great"

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home"

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling"

"The Dick, Jane, and Spot primers have gone to that bookshelf in the sky. I have, in some ways, a tender feeling toward them, so I think it's for the best"

"Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity"

"One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again"

"The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what's fascinating to me"

"Wonder if there is life on another planet? Let's suppose there is. Suppose further, that only one star in a trillion has a planet that could support life. If that were the case, then there would be at least 100 million planets that harbored life"

"The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car... a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little"

"Do not just look at your boyfriend as just a boyfriend. Look at him as a friend, too"

"As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk, I don't really believe it can happen"

"The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about the desire to reside in a world where magic can happen, the kind of world we all believed in as children, but one that disappears as we grow older"

"The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding"

"The trouble with the future is that is usually arrives before we're ready for it"

"See into life, don't just look at it"

"I wasn't afraid to fail. Something good always comes out of failure"

"A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age"

"Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop"

"I fear it's because religion is man's attempt to reach God, and when he feels he has succeeded, he cannot abide anyone else's claim to have done the same"

"People think of the inventor as a screwball, but no one ever asks the inventor what he thinks of other people"

"Ideas not coupled with action never become bigger than the brain cells they occupied"

"Men's best successes come after their disappointments"