Chris Van Allsburg quote: "Certain peer pressures encourage little fingers to learn how to hold a football instead of a crayon. Rumors circulate around the schoolyard: kids who draw or wear white socks and bring violins to school on Wednesdays might have cooties. I confess to having yielded to these pressures."

The Dick, Jane, and Spot primers have gone to that bookshelf in the sky. I have, in some ways, a ten...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I have very positive memories of reading biographies of unusual Americans as a child.
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stand...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

At first, I see pictures of a story in my mind. Then creating the story comes from asking questions ...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

A good picture book should have events that are visually arresting - the pictures should call attent...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the populat...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I've heard stories about authors filled with this kind of Lotto-winner hubris. I'm a Dutch b...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar bef...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I am fascinated by the act of making something real that at one point is only an idea. It is challen...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite rele...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The Dick, Jane, and Spot primers have gone to that bookshelf in the sky. I have, in some ways, a ten...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The whole idea of being mesmerized and not in control of your own actions is fascinating and a littl...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of ...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

Any system named Dewey was all right with us. We looked forward to hearing about the Huey and Louie ...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

At first, I see pictures of a story in my mind. Then creating the story comes from asking questions ...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I don't make plans. All my life, one artistic impulse has simply led me to another.
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what's fascinating to me.
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

Each story I've written starts out as a vague idea that seems to be going nowhere, then suddenly mat...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about the...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The Polar Express was the easiest of my picture book manuscripts to write... Once I realized the tra...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

Following my muse has worked out pretty well so far. I can't see any reason to change the formula no...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The crudest thing I've done as a teacher was to require students to write a national anthem for ...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The Polar Express ,
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

There was a great deal of peer recognition to be gained in elementary school by being able to draw w...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

Lucky are the children who know there is a jolly fat man in a red suit who pilots a flying sleigh. W...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I pore over every word on the cereal box at breakfast, often more than once. You can ask me anything...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population....
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk, I don't really believe it can happen...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

A fantasy of mine is to be tempted by the devil with a miraculous machine, a machine that could be h...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head.
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I'm not a perfectionist. I'm just very observant.
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

It did occur to me that certainly African-Americans are not underserved in picture books, but those ...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I sculpted for four or five years. Mostly for my own amusement, I decided to do a picture book, and ...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

I love the idea of a tiny window between the back stoop and the pantry, where the milkman would pass...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

'The Polar Express' began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myse...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk, I don't really believe it ca...
CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG

The Polar Express was the easiest of my picture book manuscripts to write... Once I realized the tra...
CHRIS ALLSBURG

Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite rele...
CHRIS ALLSBURG

The Polar Express ,
CHRIS ALLSBURG

The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stand...
CHRIS ALLSBURG

I am fascinated by the act of making something real that at one point is only an idea. It is challen...
CHRIS ALLSBURG

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

The Dick, Jane, and Spot primers have gone to that bookshelf in the sky. I have, in some ways, a ten...
CHRIS ALLSBURG

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population....
CHRIS ALLSBURG

Each story I've written starts out as a vague idea that seems to be going nowhere, then suddenly mat...
CHRIS ALLSBURG

The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about the...
CHRIS ALLSBURG

As we get closer to the end of this Congress, we should be addressing the urgent needs of the Americ...
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

In fact, if you look upon the situation today, there is great division in the world and we have fail...
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

I think America understands that energy security is a very important part of our national security. ...
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

I have been privileged to have the opportunity to work with many of African American fraternal and s...
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

One of the greatest obstacles to escaping poverty is the staggering cost of higher education.
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

You remember had this gigantic clock in the arena showing the size of the national debt. And Paul to...
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

Although awareness of cancer's prevalence in the United States improves and medical advances in ...
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

The fact of the matter is it's very reasonable to ask the wealthiest estates to pay their share....
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

It is Basic Management 101 that if you reward failure you are going to get more failure, and if you ...
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

When the sun rises in the morning and sets in the night. When the moon comes into sight from the eas...
CHRIS

Love that never stoped. That grew with each tear drop, with each fight. With endless nights talking ...
CHRIS

Only true love will make it through the wicked world.
CHRIS

Curiosity killed the cat, then it came back eight more times to try it again.
CHRIS

I never paid attention to what was contemporary or what was commercial, it didn't mean anything ...
VAN MORRISON

You take stuff from different places, and sometimes you stick a line in because it rhymes, not becau...
VAN MORRISON

When I started you were more in touch with the people you were playing to. There wasn't the dist...
VAN MORRISON

It was really strange for me when I started to play concerts in America where the audiences were all...
VAN MORRISON

Large audiences did not suit my low-key approach.
VAN MORRISON

You've got to separate the singer and the songs.
VAN MORRISON

If you're a pop singer, you don't need to evolve. You just get a set together, have some hit...
VAN MORRISON

I don't think nostalgia has to be negative.
VAN MORRISON

I'm very lucky, I'm happy with life because my experiences led me to do what I had to do. I ...
VAN MORRISON

What you see is what you get.
VAN MORRISON

The point of jazz is, you do something and then you go on.
VAN MORRISON

There's always got to be a struggle. What else is there? That's what life is made of. I don&...
VAN MORRISON

A famous person to themselves, they don't get up in the morning and think, I'm famous. I'...
VAN MORRISON

Every performance is different. That's the beauty of it.
VAN MORRISON

I just need somewhere to dump all my negativity.
VAN MORRISON

In order to win you must be prepared to lose sometime. And leave one or two cards showing.
VAN MORRISON

If it's what you do and you can do it, then you do it.
VAN MORRISON

I always record far more than I can use. There's probably twice as much recorded as comes out.
VAN MORRISON

Singing is my profession - there is no plan B.
VAN MORRISON

I've never felt like I was born with a silver spoon at all, although I've felt like howling ...
VAN MORRISON

The future is keeping you out of the present time.
VAN MORRISON

You've never seen a Columbine done by a black child. Never. They always say, 'We can't b...
VAN JONES

Let me say what I actually believe. I believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy, by Al Qaeda, and Osama Bin...
VAN JONES

I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explai...
VAN JONES

I'm not a success, I'm a sensation.
VAN CLIBURN

An artist can be truly evaluated only after he is dead. At the very 11th hour, he might do something...
VAN CLIBURN

These days politics, religion, media seem to get all mixed up. Television became the new religion a ...
VAN MORRISON

If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into...
VAN GOGH

Music is spiritual. The music business is not.
VAN MORRISON

Being famous was extremely disappointing for me. When I became famous it was a complete drag and it ...
VAN MORRISON

Instinct is action taken in pursuance of a purpose, but without conscious perception of what the pur...
VAN HARTMANN

There is no black-and-white situation. It's all part of life. Highs, lows, middles.
VAN MORRISON

When I started studying tenor saxophone as a kid in Belfast, I did so with a guy named George Cassid...
VAN MORRISON

I went back to Belfast and started a club, the Maritime. No one had thought about doing a blues club...
VAN MORRISON

hark, now hear the sailors cry,
smell the sea, and feel the sky
let your soul & spir...
VAN MORRISON

From the dark end of the street -- To the bright side of the road -- We'll be lovers once again on t...
VAN MORRISON

Instinct is action taken in pursuance of a purpose, but without conscious perception of what the p...
VAN HARTMANN

In order to win you must be prepared to lose something. And leave one or two cards showing.
VAN MORRISON

Never before have so many been taken for so much and left with so little.
VAN PANOPOULOS

I think that's the best Tina played all year,
VAN CHANCELLOR

I hadn't slept a wink in a week. I've never been in a game that meant any more to me than this game.
VAN CHANCELLOR

He has a lot of the same skills, just isn't as polished and refined at this point.
VAN COLEMAN

[In] I Forgot That Love Existed, ... If my heart could do the thinking/ And my head begin to feel/ T...
VAN MORRISON

I write songs. Then, I record them. And, later, maybe I perform them on stage. That's what I do. Tha...
VAN MORRISON

His sound was stunning -- it was the blues, it was R&B, it was gospel, it was swing -- it was all th...
VAN MORRISON

[10.] Cleaning Windows ... Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast.
VAN MORRISON

I don't feel comfortable doing interviews. My profession is music, and writing songs. That's what I ...
VAN MORRISON

Then let's go to the funeral home. My son was beaten so badly it was unbelievable. We had to close t...
VAN HORN

News should be based on facts. If not, it's a show to damage people, to slander people. That is n...
ANITA VAN

I think what the family is doing is terrible. I don't think it's their right to do these things like...
ANITA VAN

This just goes to show you that what you want is a lot of people looking for stuff. You want them to...
VAN TURNER

Science marches slowly, and my biggest fear all along has been that another specimen of the same ani...
VAN TURNER

Give Nicole Powell credit for making a great shot,
VAN CHANCELLOR

I've been tailgating here for about 15 years, and I like tailgating here better than at Auburn,
VAN HORN

News should be based on facts. If not, it's a show … to damage people, to slander people. That is ...
ANITA VAN

Early on in MTV's life cycle, the novelty of the video wore off.
VAN TOFFLER

We had preordered and also had cheese quiche with potato crust. It was absolutely wonderful,
VAN HORN

It's tough to be a really good team when you're losing guys out of your state, ... I think that's so...
VAN ALSTYNE

That's how my career has been, ... It's been a battle with ups and downs.
VAN ALSTYNE

It was a crime of opportunity. One of the females entered the office, there was money that had been ...
VAN ALSTYNE

a small town with a big heart.
VAN ALSTYNE

Great Days of Service.
VAN ALSTYNE

My doctor was discouraged because the drugs that I had been taking had so many side effects, ... And...
VAN ALSTYNE

There is nothing (educators) can do inside this classroom that is going to solve this problem unless...
VAN ALLEN

The meet this past weekend really marked a point where we set new standards for our team at Hopkins.
VAN ALLEN

We have never had this much depth on the women's sprint side. We have very healthy inter-team compet...
VAN ALLEN

I couldn't be more proud of the way we're competing right now.
VAN ALLEN

Having that consistency in the coaching staff has really been helping all of our athletes improve.
VAN ALLEN

We are looking forward to doing a little better. We have to recharge our batteries.
VAN SWEET

I guess that the homework has not been done very well.
VAN NIEUWENHUIZEN

She didn't concede, and I think that was probably appropriate.
VAN COLEMAN

Blake is going to be our starting third baseman. He's on a mission. I told him third base could be h...
VAN HORN

It's sort of the 19th century equivalent of a blow horn, ... It was used primarily as a form of comm...
BOBBY VAN

You know, every time you visit a facility, you see things that are really great, ... We don't want t...
BOBBY VAN

We want to go out into different areas of the county, where it's more accessible for citizens, to gi...
BOBBY VAN

I understand they've come up with some more numbers on fuel costs, but I would still like to look fo...
BOBBY VAN

It would be better to issue COs than to want for the federal government to order us to build somethi...
BOBBY VAN

It was approved by the president's council and the white paper was accepted.
VAN HUYSSTEEN

I see the maturity of Michelle Snow, getting better and better each day.
VAN CHANCELLOR

The best times we’ve had on earth are usually with those we love.
VAN HARDEN

I found parts all the way from cranial elements to the tail. I found individual vertebrae and fused ...
VAN TURNER

Absolutely a good idea, but I'd recommend using a grout stain instead.
VAN PURCELL

I just need somewhere to dump all my negativity
VAN MORRISON

I think Stamps.com is well positioned versus their competitors, ... They approached this from the po...
VAN BAKER

The accessory market, I don't see them going into that in a widespread basis with lots and lots of p...
VAN BAKER

The first piece of music that captured my imagination was probably Ray Charles Live At Newport.
VAN MORRISON

Jump!
VAN HALEN

and I shall watch the ferry boats, and they'll get high, on a bluer ocean against tomorrow's sky. an...
VAN MORRISON

I think Stamps.com is well positioned versus their competitors. They approached this from the point ...
VAN BAKER

has broken down the dam so that we can be brave, too.
VAN CLEVE

First and foremost, Xbox 360 is a game machine, and so is anybody going to go out and buy an Xbox 36...
VAN BAKER

Since we announced this campaign, there has been an incredible outpouring of support from the music ...
VAN TOFFLER

A lot of people who were writing when I came through originally as a singer-songwriter have disappea...
VAN MORRISON

They would often pull on his beard and say he must be the real Santa Claus,
VAN ORDEN

He never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity
VAN JONES

It's always the goal to come out and win. The field is definitely improving. I mean, all across the ...
LINDSAY VAN

I just tried to focus on what I really needed to do. I haven't been feeling too well lately, but it ...
LINDSAY VAN

Drew had a big day. He did a good job playing first base for us and made some things happen at the p...
VAN ARNOLD

The media market it fragmenting like crazy right now,
VAN BAKER

We do have great depth, and great depth is good,
VAN CHANCELLOR

has truly recognized and received my deep love and lifetime devotion.
VAN CLIBURN

He's a good, solid big-man recruit. He's long; he runs the floor really well, excellent shooting tou...
VAN COLEMAN

Louis B. Mayer once looked at me and said, 'You will never get the girl at the end'. So I worked on ...
VAN HEFLIN

Hunters need to remember that there are many other folks spending time outdoors during early Septemb...
VAN HORN

Their inside game allowed them to get things done. We had too many scoring opportunities that we did...
VAN HOLT

The Board can only do so much and we now have a better understanding of how this matter came to be, ...
VAN HUYSSTEEN

I can't help but feel we are being used as a pawn in the political game, and I'm not going to take i...
VAN JOHNSON

Coincidence is important, the convergence of different ideas.
DRIES VAN NOTEN

Clothes is just something you put on to cover yourself... fashion is a way to communicate.
DRIES VAN NOTEN

I don't think you can ever do your best. Doing your best is a process of trying to do your best.
TOWNES VAN ZANDT

One must work and dare if one really wants to live.
VINCENT VAN GOGH

I believe in the paramount importance of entertainment, but I have something to say.
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

I write early in the morning at the computer, and people think I'm crazy, but I still use my Mac...
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

If you are interested in writing, get out and live your life! Do a lot. See a lot. Keep your eyes an...
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

I rewrite my books many times before submitting them, and after my editor takes a look I wind up rew...
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

I've run my whole life - for more than exercise, for mental health.
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

Part of my motivation for writing mysteries for young people is that I loved mysteries when I was gr...
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

Writing is work. It takes a lot of contemplation, concentration, and out-and-out sweat. People tend ...
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

My mission as a writer is to give my readers hope to carry with them, and to promote a belief that t...
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

What sort of person you grow into should not be achieved by default, and often that's exactly wh...
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

There are certain things I believe we need to keep in our emotional arsenal as we navigate through l...
WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

There is no stopping the world's tendency to throw off imposed restraints, the religious authori...
VAN WYCK BROOKS

The American mind, unlike the English, is not formed by books, but, as Carl Sandburg once said to me...
VAN WYCK BROOKS

If men were basically evil, who would bother to improve the world instead of giving it up as a bad j...
VAN WYCK BROOKS

It is not that the French are not profound, but they all express themselves so well that we are led ...
VAN WYCK BROOKS

Nothing is sadder than having worldly standards without worldly means.
VAN WYCK BROOKS

Magnanimous people have no vanity, they have no jealousy, and they feed on the true and the solid wh...
VAN WYCK BROOKS

The creative impulses of man are always at war with the possessive impulses.
VAN WYCK BROOKS

The man who has the courage of his platitudes is always a successful man.
VAN WYCK BROOKS

Genius and virtue are to be more often found clothed in gray than in peacock bright.
VAN WYCK BROOKS

Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.
VINCENT VAN GOGH

Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I ...
VINCENT VAN GOGH

I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.
VINCENT VAN GOGH

The way to know life is to love many things.
VINCENT VAN GOGH

Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul.
VINCENT VAN GOGH

Rarely in broadcasting history has so much been riding on the whimsical flick of a few thousand wris...
HARRIET VAN HORNE

One who roams the channels after dark, searching for buried treasure.
HARRIET VAN HORNE

The people under our system, like the king in a monarchy, never dies.
MARTIN VAN BUREN

One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by se...
VINCENT VAN GOGH

Certain peer pressures encourage little fingers to learn how to hold a football instead of a crayon. Rumors circulate around the schoolyard: kids who draw or wear white socks and bring violins to school on Wednesdays might have cooties. I confess to having yielded to these pressures.

Chris Van Allsburg

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