Garry Trudeau Quotes

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Garry Trudeau

Profession : Cartoonist

Birth : July 21, 1948

The systematic dismantling of reproductive rights, much like the takedown of collective bargaining, has been taking place in full view.

Garry Trudeau

For the most part, editors no longer view 'Doonesbury' as a rolling provocation, which is fine by me. It makes no sense to intentionally antagonize the very people on whose support you most depend.

Garry Trudeau

I don't want to sound disingenuous here - controversy is obviously good for business, especially if your business is satire. And it does amplify the discussion - in my view, a good thing.

Garry Trudeau

As far as I'm concerned, there is no subject that's off the table.

Garry Trudeau

I'm a pointillist, just working my tiny little piece of the canvas. I'm not so good at perspective.

Garry Trudeau

Coming up with ideas is really hard - they don't spontaneously pop into my head while I'm cutting vegetables.

Garry Trudeau

That's what fiction writers do: create characters and do terrible things to them for the entertainment of others. If they feel guilty enough, they write happy endings.

Garry Trudeau

I found that not having a public profile was not hurting the work, and it freed me up to be the satirist I wanted to be.

Garry Trudeau

There is nothing worse than annotated humour.

Garry Trudeau

Because I was a diminutive, arty kid, I felt like a misfit in high school - but who doesn't?

Garry Trudeau

I'm never happier than when I'm not working. The strip is a job - that's why I take money for it. It's a job I'm passionate about, but it's a job I totally leave in the studio when I walk out of here, unless I'm late and I have to work at home. I never think of the strip unless I'm compelled to.

Garry Trudeau

When you're young, you don't feel iconoclastic - you're just kind of doing what seems natural, what moves you.

Garry Trudeau

I think it's very dangerous for people who do anything that's public to venture on the Web and check out what people are saying about them. Yes, you're bound to find things that will delight you - but you also find things that will make you brood and feel bad about yourself. Why would you intentionally invite that into your life?

Garry Trudeau

Comic-strip artists generally have very modest ambitions. Day to day, we labor to fit together all these little moving parts - a character or two, a few lines of dialogue, framing, pacing, payoff - but we certainly don't think of them adding up over time to some larger portrait of our times.

Garry Trudeau

When you're young, with less on the line, it's easier to be audacious, to experiment. So I introduced the concerns of my generation - politics, sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, etc. - to the comics page, which for many years caused a rolling furor.

Garry Trudeau

Having stretched the boundaries some, I'm perfectly content now to work within them. 'Doonesbury' doesn't need to become 'South Park.' You won't ever see any singing turds.

Garry Trudeau

I can only try to keep the characters interesting; it's up to the readers to decide whether they're still relevant.

Garry Trudeau

I try not to second-guess editors; they're the clients, and I have no expectation that my strip is going to make it into every paper every day.

Garry Trudeau

Comic strips are like a public utility. They're supposed to be there 365 days a year, and you're supposed to be able to hit the mark day after day.

Garry Trudeau