"I mean, being a child was being a child, was being a creature without power, without pocket money, without escape routes of any kind. So I didn't want to be a child."

Power

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Power as articulated by Maurice Sendak. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Power provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Maurice Sendak

Maurice Bernard Sendak was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Sendak illustrated his own books as well as those by other authors, such as the Little Bear series by Else Holmelund Minarik. He achieved acclaim with Where the Wild Things Are (1963), the first of a trilogy followed by In the Night Kitchen (1970) and Outside Over There (1981). He also designed sets for operas, notably Mozart's The Magic Flute.

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More by Maurice Sendak

"I've convinced myself - I hope I'm right - that children despair of you if you don't tell them the truth."

— Maurice Sendak
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"Childhood is a tricky business. Usually, something goes wrong."

— Maurice Sendak
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"To get a child's trust - you may know or not - is a very hard thing to do. They're so used to not believing adults - because adults tell tales and lies all the time."

— Maurice Sendak
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"I think people should be given a test much like driver's tests as to whether they're capable of being parents! It's an art form. I talk a lot. And I think a lot. And I draw a lot. But never in a million years would I have been a parent. That's just work that's too hard."

— Maurice Sendak
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More about Power

"The disruptive powers of excessive national fecundity may have played a greater part in bursting the bonds of convention than either the power of ideas or the errors of autocracy."

— John Maynard Keynes
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"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family."

— Kofi Annan
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"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible."

— Henry Ford
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"Knowledge is going to make you stronger. Knowledge is going to let you control your life. Knowledge is going to give you the wisdom to teach their children. Knowledge is the thing that makes you smile in the face of disaster."

— Avery Brooks
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