44 Quotes by Jan Brett

I have a hard time writing, and I usually have to put a timer at my desk and put it on for an hour. But I love to illustrate, and I can hardly stop myself.

My optimism has helped me through some hard times. If you try to send out good things, good things come back to you.

Sometimes I get ideas from childhood. In 'The Hat', Hedgie starts getting teased about his hat, and he just pretends that everything is okay. That's the advice that my mother gave me - not to get mad and pretend that everything is okay. And it worked.

Children have such vibrant minds. They need to play. They need to be creative. They need to imagine. It's so important for their sense of self discovery. And it helps them learn problem-solving.

Writing a story is like going down a path in the woods. You follow the path. You don’t worry about getting lost. You just go.

People may think that because I have illustrated and written all these books it must be easy for me, but it’s not really easy for me. The drawing part is easy – I love doing it. But continuing to move forward is hard.

I love children because that’s a part of my life that was so happy, and I like to remember back to those days where everything is a discovery, and the world is so fresh.

When I was little I used to wish I could talk to the illustrators because I wanted to discuss something about the books. With so many of the other art forms that children experience, such as movies and television, they don’t get to control the pace.

I loved being a child. If I do have a talent, it’s not so much being an artist, but it’s being able to remember back to that time.