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Lynda Barry Quotes

Powerful Lynda Barry for Daily Growth

For horror movies, color is reassuring because, at least in older films, it adds to the fakey-ness.

- Lynda Barry

Movies, Horror, Films, Reassuring

I think of images as an immune system and a transit system.

- Lynda Barry

Think, I Think, Images, Transit

Part of a horror movie has to be a bit fakey for me to really enjoy it. The new ones are so realistic that they distract me from the ride through the horror.

- Lynda Barry

New, Through, Horror, Horror Movie

I am not sure how much I would like being married if I wasn't married to him. A man who likes flea markets and isn't gay? I knew I was lucky.

- Lynda Barry

Lucky, Like, Sure, Flea

I tried to be like the richer kids as much as I could because I wanted to live on their streets, at least hang out on their streets and eat their amazing food and walk barefoot on their shag carpets. I became something of a pest in that way, and in general, other people's parents didn't like me.

- Lynda Barry

Other, Hang, Became, Pest

The thing that really struck me when I went to junior high was class. I grew up on a pretty poor street, but the school district I was in included some fine neighborhoods - so I got to know a couple of the kids from those places and went to their houses and experienced such culture shock.

- Lynda Barry

Some, Got, Couple, Junior

There was a beautiful time in the beginning when I just did it and didn't analyze the consequences, but I think that time ends in everyone's work.

- Lynda Barry

Beginning, Think, I Think, Analyze

No one stopped me from playing when I was alone, but there were times when I wasn't able to, though I wanted to... There were times when nothing played back. Writers call it 'writer's block.' For kids there are other names for that feeling, though kids don't usually know them.

- Lynda Barry

Alone, Back, Other, Block

Whenever I do a book, I'm usually guided by a question or something that I'm trying to tease out.

- Lynda Barry

Question, Tease, Whenever, Guided

For 'Picture This,' I wanted it to be a drawing book that didn't have any instructions about drawing, beyond the real simple stuff you'd find like in a Bazooka bubblegum wrapper, or in 'Highlights' magazine. I just wanted it to be feelings about looking and seeing and pictures.

- Lynda Barry

Book, Instructions, About, Highlights

Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke.

- Lynda Barry

Love, Smoke, Exploding, Willingly

The happy ending is hardly important, though we may be glad it's there. The real joy is knowing that if you felt the trouble in the story, your kingdom isn't dead.

- Lynda Barry

Happy, May, Though, Hardly

I've gotten a lot of livid letters about the awfulness of my work. I've never known what to make of it. Why do people bother to write if they hate what I do?

- Lynda Barry

Work, Bother, Gotten, Letters

I started doing cartoons when I was about 21. I never thought I would be a cartoonist. It happened behind my back. I was always a painter and drawer.

- Lynda Barry

Doing, Behind, Always, Drawer

I remember my comic strips being called 'new wave.' It bugged me.

- Lynda Barry

New, I Remember, Being, Comic Strips

It's one thing to have a relationship, to lay your hands on it, and another to make it continue and last. That's something I haven't talked about much in my comic strips, and it's certainly something I'm interested in.

- Lynda Barry

Hands, Another, About, Comic Strips

In my writing class, we never, ever talk about the writing - ever. We never address a story that's been read. I also won't let anyone look at the person who's reading. No eye contact; everybody has to draw a spiral. And I would like to do a drawing class where we could talk about anything except for the drawing. No one could even mention it.

- Lynda Barry

Been, Everybody, About, Spiral

I used to live a very social life and never spend much solitary time looking at birds or reading.

- Lynda Barry

Solitary, Social, Very, Social Life

Sometimes I think I'm the craziest person on the planet.

- Lynda Barry

Think, Person, I Think, Craziest

I found myself compelled - like this weird, shameful compulsion - to draw cute animals.

- Lynda Barry

Weird, Found, Compulsion, Shameful

It's much easier to teach writing, because people are less shy about writing. If they're in a group, nobody can see what they're writing. When you're drawing, people get a little more nervous.

- Lynda Barry

Teach, Shy, More, Group

It's not hard for me to be funny in front of people, but most of that is just horrified nerves taking the form of what makes people laugh, and afterwards I'd always feel dreadfully depressed, kind of self-induced bi-polar disorder.

- Lynda Barry

Kind, Always, Afterwards, Laugh

I listen like mad to any conversation taking place next to me just trying to hear why this is funny. Women's restrooms are especially great. I wash my hands twice waiting for people to come in and start talking.

- Lynda Barry

Waiting, Hands, Next, Conversation

When I was working on 'Freddie,' I had been trying to write it on a computer for many, many years, but that delete button just won't let anything go forward.

- Lynda Barry

Forward, Go, Been, Button

'What It Is' was based on this class I've been teaching for 10 years - I wanted to write a book about writing that didn't mention stuff like story structure, protagonists, and all those things that we know about only because they already exist in stories.

- Lynda Barry

Book, Been, About, Protagonists

If I didn't try to eavesdrop on every bus ride I take or look for the humor when I go for a walk, I would just be depressed all the time.

- Lynda Barry

Ride, Bus, Go, Depressed

My strips are not always funny, and they can be pretty grim at times, and I know I lose readers because of it, but I can't do anything about it - my work is very much connected to something I need to do in order to feel stable.

- Lynda Barry

Feel, Very, About, Stable

We don't create a fantasy world to escape reality. We create it to be able to stay.

- Lynda Barry

World, Fantasy, Able, Escape

Playing and fun are not the same thing, though when we grow up we may forget that and find ourselves mixing up playing with happiness. There can be a kind of amnesia about the seriousness of playing, especially when we played by ourselves.

- Lynda Barry

Grow, May, Though, Seriousness

Cartoonist was the weirdest name I finally let myself have. I would never say it. When I heard it I silently thought, what an awful word.

- Lynda Barry

Myself, Thought, Finally, Weirdest

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