Quotes by Matt Groening

• It's a funny show. The characters are surprisingly likable, given how ugly they are. We've got this huge cast of characters that we can move around. And over the last few seasons, we've explored some of the secondary characters' personal lives a bit more.
• Everybody doesn't have to get every joke. People really appreciate not being condescended to.
• I draw a weekly comic strip called Life in Hell, which is syndicated in about 250 newspapers. That's what I did before The Simpsons, and what I plan to do for the rest of my life.
• I love the idea that we put in jokes the kids don't get. And that later, when they grow up and read a few books and go to college and watch the show again, they can get it on a completely different level.
• I've loved science fiction ever since I was a little kid, mainly from looking at the covers of science-fiction magazines and books, and I've read quite extensively as an adult.
• I don't know why I did it, I don't know why I enjoyed it, and I don't know why I will do it again.
• It's just hard not to listen to TV: it's spent so much more time raising us than parents have.
• Living creatively is really important to maintain throughout your life. And living creatively doesn't mean only artistic creativity, although that's part of it. It means being yourself, not just complying with the wishes of other people.
• Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig and then suddenly he turns on you with a miniature machine gun.
• Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
• Me fail english? Thats unpossible.
• I want it to go on, but I want us to go out on top.
• The Simpsons is an especially collaborative show.
• A lot of our writers, like Conan O'Brien, moved on to other things.
• A lot of people believe that if everybody just did what they were told - obeyed - everything would be fine. But that's not what life is all about. That's not real. It's never going to happen.
• Basically, everything I try to do is to present an alternative to what somebody else is doing.
• Because good writing in a TV cartoon is so rare, I think the animation on The Simpsons is often overlooked.
• Don't have a cow, man.
• One of the things I would like to do is make up stories that I would have enjoyed when I was a kid. So, if I'm thinking about an audience, it's usually a younger version of myself.
• Eat my shorts!
• Since I was there in the very beginning, I know the history of the characters. So, I make comments about the tone and sometimes remind the writers that we've done that before.
• Families are about love overcoming emotional torture.
• God often gives nuts to toothless people.
• Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and answer to, all of life's problems.
• I also found child's play - stuff that was not considered serious, but goofy - was the stuff I liked to do, so I still do it as an adult.
• Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?
• We've been running a little behind schedule. But only by about 15 years or so.
• Most TV shows don't reward you for paying attention.
• When The Simpsons came around, there really was nothing else like it on TV. It's hard to imagine, but when Fox first took the plunge with it, it was considered controversial to put animation on prime time.
• When the authorities warn you of the dangers of having sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities.
• When authorities warn you of the sinfulness of sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities.
• We've got a bunch of new writers now who tell me they grew up watching The Simpsons. It's bizarre, and they're writing some very funny stuff.
• The writers led by Mike Scully are fantastic. And they're creating original stories that not only don't repeat what we've already done, they also don't repeat anything I've seen on television.
• Sometimes people get mad at The Simpsons' subversive story telling, but there's another message in there, which is a celebration of making wild, funny stories.
• The thing that makes me happiest about Simpsons Illustrated are all the drawings that we get from readers. I wish we could print them all. They're really imaginative. They show a lot of hard work.
• Well, most grown-ups forget what it was like to be a kid. I vowed that I would never forget.