Chris Van Allsburg Quotes

Quotes about:

• At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Christmas, Sweet, Life Changing

  Chris Van Allsburg (1985). “The Polar Express”

  55 Copy quote

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

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Writing, Eight, Years

  42 Copy quote

• its not bad to be different. Sometimes it's the mark of being very very talented.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Different, Sometimes, Mark

  24 Copy quote

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

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Ideas, Ordinary, Fascinating

  22 Copy quote

• 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.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Opportunity, Two, People

  14 Copy quote

• I don't think ordinary things are very interesting, so I try to imagine a world that is less ordinary.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Thinking, Interesting, Trying

  Scholastic Interview, www.scholastic.com. November 10, 2004.

  16 Copy quote

• An award does not change the quality of a book.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Change, Book, Awards

  Caldecott Medal acceptance speech for The Polar Express, polarexpress.com. 1986.

  12 Copy quote

• Some people may contend that there is no image more charming that a child holding a puppy or kitten. But for me that's a distant second. When I see a child clutching a book... to his or her tiny bosom, I'm moved. Children can possess a book in a way they can never possess a video game, a TV show, or a Darth Vader doll. A book comes alive when they read it. They give it life themselves by understanding it.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Children, Book, Tv Shows

  14 Copy quote

• 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.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Writing, Asking Questions, Illustration

  9 Copy quote

• There must be something to think about at the end.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Thinking, Ends

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Children, Imagination, Magic

  11 Copy quote

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

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Change, Muse, Reason

  17 Copy quote

• Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Believe, Doe, Bells

  Chris Van Allsburg (1985). “The Polar Express”

  9 Copy quote

• I've always thought of the book as a visual art form, and it should represent a single artistic idea, which it does if you write your own material.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Art, Book, Writing

  "Chris Van Allsburg on Picture Book Writing". Interview with Maryann Yin, www.adweek.com. October 28, 2011.

  10 Copy quote

• The inclination to believe in the fantastic may strike some as a failure in logic, or gullibility, but it’s really a gift. A world that might have Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster is clearly superior to one that definitely does not.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Believe, Monsters, Doe

  Caldecott Medal acceptance speech for The Polar Express, polarexpress.com. 1986.

  29 Copy quote

• My ideas are not meant to suggest dreams or reality, but a surreal quality.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Dream, Reality, Ideas

  10 Copy quote

• 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.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Art, Thinking, Praise

  Caldecott Medal acceptance speech for Jumanji, polarexpress.com. 1982.

  8 Copy quote

• I pore over every word on the cereal box at breakfast, often more than once. You can ask me anything about shredded wheat.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Cereal, Breakfast, Wheat

  Caldecott Medal acceptance speech for The Polar Express, polarexpress.com. 1986.

  14 Copy quote

• The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Boys, Ideas, What If

  54 Copy quote

• If you don't know where you're going, stop racing to get there. -- from Just Desert by M. T. Anderson

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Racing, Desert, Knows

  8 Copy quote

• I have lots of ideas. The problem for me has always been which one to do.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Ideas, Problem

  4 Copy quote

• The Polar Express was the easiest of my picture book manuscripts to write... Once I realized the train was going to the North Pole, finding the story seemed less like a creative effort than an act of recollection. I felt, like the storys narrator, that I was remembering something, not making it up.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Book, Writing, Effort

  54 Copy quote

• I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Art, Writing, Thinking

  "All-star authors add stories to illustrator's vision". Interview with Christian DuChateau, www.cnn.com. November 11, 2011.

  9 Copy quote

• 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.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Christmas, Eight, Years

  13 Copy quote

• Certain peer pressures encourage little fingers to learn how to hold a football instead of a crayon. I confess to having yielded to these pressures.

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Football, Peer Pressure, Peers

  14 Copy quote

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