Robert Crumb Quotes

Quotes about:

• You don’t have journalists over there anymore, what they have is public relations people. That’s what they have over in America now. Two-hundred and fifty thousand people in public relations. And a dwindling number of actual reporters and journalists.

  Robert Crumb

  Two, Numbers, America

  50 Copy quote

• You can't make everybody love you. It's an exercise in futility, and it's probably not even a good idea to try.

  Robert Crumb

  Love You, Exercise, Ideas

  "R. Crumb Speaks". Interview with Robert Hughes, content.time.com. April 29, 2005.

  15 Copy quote

• When I listen to old music, that's one of the few times that I actually have a kind of love for humanity.

  Robert Crumb

  Humanity, Kind, Old Music

  18 Copy quote

• Hey kids, while you're out smashing the state keep a smile on your lips and a song in your hearts.

  Robert Crumb

  Song, Heart, Kids

  14 Copy quote

• I felt so painfully isolated that I vowed I would get revenge on the world by becoming a famous cartoonist.

  Robert Crumb

  Revenge, World, Becoming

  16 Copy quote

• Your vigor for life appalls me.

  Robert Crumb

  Vigor

  "Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me: The R. Crumb Letters 1958-1977". Book by Robert Crumb, 1998.

  12 Copy quote

• As a kid growing up in the 1950s I became acutely aware of the changes taking place in American culture and I must say I didn't much like it. I witnessed the debasement of architecture, and I could see a decline in the quality of things like comic books and toys, things made for kids. Old things seemed to have more life, more substance, more humanity in them.

  Robert Crumb

  Growing Up, Book, Kids

  "The R. Crumb Handbook". Book by Robert Crumb and Peter Poplaski, 2005.

  13 Copy quote

• Drawing is a way for me to articulate things inside myself that I can't otherwise grasp.

  Robert Crumb

  Drawing, Way, I Can

  "The R. Crumb Handbook". Book by Robert Crumb and Peter Poplaski, 2005.

  13 Copy quote

• When I come up against the real world, I just vacillate.

  Robert Crumb

  Real, World, Come Up

  "'When I was four, I knew I was weird'". Interview with Simon Hattenstone, www.theguardian.com. March 7, 2005.

  18 Copy quote

• I'm an outsider. I will always be an outsider.

  Robert Crumb

  Outsiders

  "R. Crumb, The Art of Comics No. 1". Interview with Ted Widmer, www.theparisreview.org. 2010.

  7 Copy quote

• At least I hate myself as much as I hate anybody else.

  Robert Crumb

  Hate, I Hate Myself, I Hate

  "The man whose muse is misery" by Sharon Waxman, www.washingtonpost.com. May 25, 1992.

  38 Copy quote

• Everything that is strong in me has gone into my art work.

  Robert Crumb

  Art, Strong, Gone

  "When I was four, I knew I was weird", www.theguardian.com. March 7, 2005.

  7 Copy quote

• When people say 'What are underground comics?' I think the best way you can define them is just the absolute freedom involved... we didn't have anyone standing over us.

  Robert Crumb

  Thinking, People, Way

  4 Copy quote

• The comics are where all the crazy subconscious stuff comes out.

  Robert Crumb

  Crazy, Stuff, Subconscious

  "STYLE; An Eye for The Ladies". Interview with Lisa Eisner and Roman Alonso, www.nytimes.com. March 30, 2003.

  7 Copy quote

• They were just snapshots, nothing special, nothing particularly artistic. They were used for utility purposes. (On photographs of mundane streetscapes he had Stanley Something-or-other take in Sacramento in 1988 to serve as backgrounds to his cartoons. People don't draw it, all this crap, people don't focus attention on it because it's ugly, it's bleak, it's depressing... But, this is the world we live in; I wanted my work to reflect that, the background reality of urban life. )

  Robert Crumb

  Depressing, Reality, People

  5 Copy quote

• Violence begets violence, and then you get leaders who are violent men. And you don't want that.

  Robert Crumb

  Men, Leader, Want

  "R. Crumb on Album Covers, Charlie Patton 78s, and Occupy Wall Street". Interview with Tim McDonnell, www.motherjones.com. November 7, 2011.

  7 Copy quote

• I'm just a negative person, a deeply negative person. I see the worst aspects of everything.

  Robert Crumb

  Negative, Aspect, Worst

  "When I was four, I knew I was weird", www.theguardian.com. March 7, 2005.

  10 Copy quote

• The work itself is what motivates me. I like my own stuff, you know? I like the way it looks. I do it to please myself first.

  Robert Crumb

  Looks, Stuff, Way

  "STYLE; An Eye for The Ladies". Interview with Lisa Eisner and Roman Alonso, www.nytimes.com. March 30, 2003.

  5 Copy quote

• Killing yourself is a major commitment, it takes a kind of courage. Most people just lead lives of cowardly desperation. It's kinda half suicide where you just dull yourself with substances.

  Robert Crumb

  Suicide, Commitment, People

  "'When I was four, I knew I was weird'". Interview with Simon Hattenstone, www.theguardian.com. March 7, 2005.

  21 Copy quote

• I draw the line at some things. Some things I won't do for any amount of money. Like for instance, there's a couple of CEOs of very large corporations that offered me lots of money to do special pictures for them. And I just refused to do that. Even if it was a million dollars I wouldn't do it.

  Robert Crumb

  Couple, Special, Lines

  "R. Crumb on Album Covers, Charlie Patton 78s, and Occupy Wall Street". Interview with Tim McDonnell, www.motherjones.com. November 7, 2011.

  7 Copy quote

• The fine-art world knows very little about the cartoon world.

  Robert Crumb

  Art, World, Littles

  "STYLE; An Eye for The Ladies". Interview with Lisa Eisner and Roman Alonso, www.nytimes.com. March 30, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

• I lose patience with long stories. I get people who go, "Crumb, do some long stories, do a graphic novel." Novel-schmovel.

  Robert Crumb

  Long, People, Stories

  Interview with Steve Bell, www.theguardian.com. March 18, 2005.

  9 Copy quote

• The Bible was not written for entertainment purposes, so it's a real hodgepodge and a compendium of all kinds of stuff.

  Robert Crumb

  Real, Purpose, Stuff

  8 Copy quote

• I'm into old-time music, I'm not very interested in modern, popular music at all. And if I'm really into some particular old-time musician, some fiddler or banjo player, I'm always dying of curiosity to see what they look like.

  Robert Crumb

  Player, Curiosity, Dying

  "R. Crumb on Album Covers, Charlie Patton 78s, and Occupy Wall Street". Interview with Tim McDonnell, www.motherjones.com. November 7, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• I didn't invent anything; it's all there in the culture; it's not a big mystery. I just combine my personal experience with classic cartoon stereotypes.

  Robert Crumb

  Cartoon, Culture, Classic

  "Roll right up, folks!" by Robert Crumb, www.theguardian.com. March 7, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

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