As a kid, all I thought about was death. But you can't tell your parents that.

My life in Brooklyn was in constant danger because of my bad health.

That always seemed to be the most critical test that a child was confronted with - loss of parents, loss of direction, loss of love. Can you live without a mother and a father?

I have to accept my role. I will never kill myself like Vincent Van Gogh. Nor will I paint beautiful water lilies like Monet. I can't do that. I'm in the idiot role of being a kiddie book person.

I'm an illustrator. I have to accept my role.

'Hansel and Gretel' is one of the scariest stories ever written! Psychotic mother; stupid, inane father.

You cannot write for children They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.

Finding out that I was gay when I was older was a shock and a disappointment.

I did not know how to paint a mural. I did not know how to prepare the surface. There was nobody from the Renaissance around who could advise me, and I did the best I could.

When I did 'Bumble-ardy,' I was so intensely aware of death. Eugene, my friend and partner, was dying here in the house when I did 'Bumble-ardy'. I did 'Bumble-ardy' to save myself. I did not want to die with him. I wanted to live, as any human being does.

I have a good life.

To get a child's trust - you may know or not - is a very hard thing to do. They're so used to not believing adults - because adults tell tales and lies all the time.

I think people should be given a test much like driver's tests as to whether they're capable of being parents! It's an art form. I talk a lot. And I think a lot. And I draw a lot. But never in a million years would I have been a parent. That's just work that's too hard.

I've convinced myself - I hope I'm right - that children despair of you if you don't tell them the truth.

In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy. There's a cruelty to childhood, there's an anger.

Do parents sit down and tell their kids everything? I don't know. I don't know.

I'm sick of 'Wild Things.'

I don't need faith.

We're animals. We're violent. We're criminal.

My work is not great, but it's respectable. I have no false illusions.

I'm totally crazy, I know that.

There must be more to life than having everything.

I don't believe in an afterlife but I still fully expect to see my brother again.

I didn't have much confidence in myself... never.