Maira Kalman Quotes

• What protects you in this world from sadness and from the loss of an ability to do something? ... Work and love.

  Maira Kalman

  Sadness, Loss, And Love

  52 Copy quote

• A visit to a museum is a search for beauty, truth, and meaning in our lives. Go to museums as often as you can.

  Maira Kalman

  Museums, Our Lives

  26 Copy quote

• 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

  Cute, Mistake, Glasses

  21 Copy quote

• 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

  Flower, Book, Thinking

  19 Copy quote

• Wonderful things happen when your brain is empty.

  Maira Kalman

  Brain, Wonderful, Empty

  9 Copy quote

• 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

  Notebook, Dream, Travel

  15 Copy quote

• Go out and walk. That is the glory of life.

  Maira Kalman

  Glory, Walks

  13 Copy quote

• Everyone I know is looking for solace, hope and a tasty snack.

  Maira Kalman

  Snacks, Funny Food, Solace

  "FIRST LOOK; Unleashing Her Inner Child". Interview with Chee Pearlmannov, November 1, 2001.

  48 Copy quote

• Every Monday morning is new hope.

  Maira Kalman

  Monday, Morning, Monday Morning

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  Smart, Profound, Insightful

  11 Copy quote

• Washing dishes is the anecdote to confusion. I know that for a fact.

  Maira Kalman

  Confusion, Anecdotes, Facts

  10 Copy quote

• The tears are invisible. 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

  Jobs, Tears, Earth

  9 Copy quote

• 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

  Crazy, Artist, Impossible

  "Maira Kalman's show at Jewish Museum". Interview with Kenneth Baker, www.sfgate.com. July 1, 2010.

  8 Copy quote

• I have many questions, but no patience to think them through.

  Maira Kalman

  Thinking, No Patience

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  Paris, Mustache, Brain

  4 Copy quote

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

  Maira Kalman

  Diversity, Attention, Short Attention Spans

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  Book, Home, Ideas

  5 Copy quote

• if something does go wrong, here is my advice... KEEP CALM and CARRY ON.

  Maira Kalman

  Advice, Doe, Calm

  12 Copy quote

• The book. Calming object. Held in the hand.

  Maira Kalman

  Book, Hands, Calming

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  Sorry, Struggle, Optimistic

  7 Copy quote

• I like the brooding man - a brooding man with a sense of humor.

  Maira Kalman

  Men, Sense Of Humor, Brooding

  13 Copy quote

• On my desk, I always have a lemon or a lime drying. I love the fragrance. Also, a Staedtler eraser, a brush for the eraser and a pencil sharpener.

  Maira Kalman

  Desks, Limes, Brushes

  9 Copy quote

• 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

  Mother, Names, Lunch

  6 Copy quote

• My workspace is defined by books, ephemera, quiet and light. I don't have a computer, telephone or a fax machine there.

  Maira Kalman

  Book, Light, Fax Machines

  52 Copy quote

• I said, 'Well, how much space do I have?' And they said, 'Well, you know, it's the Internet.'

  Maira Kalman

  Space, Internet, Said

  4 Copy quote

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