Robert McCloskey Quotes

So, you never can tell what will happen when you learn to play the harmonica.

"Homer got down from the chair and pushed a button on the machine marked, "start". Rings of batter started dropping into the hot fat. After a ring of batter was cooked on one side, an automatic gadget turned it over and the other side would cook. Then another automatic gadget gave the doughnut a little push and it rolled neatly down a little chute, all ready to eat."

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” — Robert McCloskey

People — adults as well as children — so often just don’t realize what they’re looking at. There’s no thought behind it. They’ll say to themselves, ‘Well, that’s a bookshelf’ or ‘That’s an elephant,’ and see nothing other than just the fact. There’s no sense of relationship — or the relationship of a house to its environment, a man to his environment, of the scale of things. … Seeing is really a decision-making process, a matter of evaluating what is around you

Take a farewell look at the waves and sky. Take a farewell sniff of the salty sea. A little bit sad about the place you are leaving, a little bit glad about the place you are going.

"That's simply a fascinating machine," said the lady as she waited for the first doughnut to roll out . ⁠
"Here, young man, you must have the first one. Now isn't that just too delicious? Isn't it simply marvelous?"⁠
"Yes, Ma'm, it's very good," replied Homer, as the lady handed doughnuts to Charles, and to Mr. Gabby, and asked if they didn't think they were simply divine doughnuts.⁠
"It's an old family recipe!" said the lady with pride.

By the time Uncle Ulysses and the sheriff arrived and pushed through the crowd, the lunchroom was a calamity of doughnuts! Doughnuts in the window, doughnuts piled high on the shelves, doughnuts stacked on plates, doughnuts lined up twelve deep all along the counter, and doughnuts still rolling down the little chute, just as regular as a clock can tick.

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.