Maira Kalman Quotes

The ability to take a walk from one point to the next point, that is half the battle won.

He is a monk. On his card it says INNER PEACE CENTER. I will go there in February for a tea ceremony. Does he actually know more than I do about inner peace? If he met my relatives, would he have a nervous breakdown? What about his relatives? Do they drive him nuts? The truth is everybody gets on everybody's nerves.

Useless and precious objects. Taking up space. Taking up time.

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.

And it is very true that the most tender, complicated, most generous part of our being blossoms without any effort, when it comes to the love of a dog.

I don't want to trudge up insane mountains or through war-torn lands. Just a nice stroll through the hill and dale. But now I walk everywhere in the city. Any city. You see everything you need to see in a lifetime. Every emotion. Every condition. Every fashion. Every glory.

The pieces I chose were based on one thing only — a gasp of delight. Isn’t that the only way to curate a life?

Some people, surely, die on the way to something.

Then we call them the late so-and-so.

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

I want to say
that wonderful ideas
can come from anywhere.
Sometimes you make a mistake,
or break something, or lose a hat, and the next
thing you know, you get a great idea.

I read obituaries first thing in the morning. With a cup of coffee. This is NOT MORBID. Just epic. Maybe it's a way of trying to figure out, before the day begins, what is important. And I am curious about all the little things that make up life. Little?

Oh, Tocqueville, you're the man.

Sometimes, when I am feeling
particularly happy or content,
I think I can provide sustenance
for legions of human beings.
I can hold the entire world in my arms.

Other times, I can barely cross the
room. And I drop my arms. Frozen.

Jump right in, or wade in slowly.
Advantage to one, it's over quickly.
Advantage to the other, it isn't.

There is no reason to save tickets and stubs. They are tiny and inconsequential. But I do save them and remember that number twenty-three was from the coat check at the restaurant where I ate the lemon tart. The number is so elegant and honest. And the lemon tart was so good.