
“I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.”
Quoted in Richard Kostelanetz (1988) Conversing with Cage
1980s
Source: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
“I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.”
Quoted in Richard Kostelanetz (1988) Conversing with Cage
1980s
“I wanted my wild things to be frightening.”
As quoted in The Art of Maurice Sendak by Selma G. Lanes (1980)
Context: I wanted my wild things to be frightening. But why? It was probably at this point that I remembered how I detested my Brooklyn relatives as a small child. They came almost every Sunday, and there was my week-long anxiety about their coming the next Sunday... They'd lean way over with their bad teeth and hairy noses, and say something threatening like "You're so cute I could eat you up." And I knew if my mother didn't hurry up with the cooking, they probably would.
Interview with Michael Moore in the movie Sicko (2007).
2000s
Cited in "The Nazis: A Warning from History", Disc 1, 10:48. Also quoted in "The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership" - Page 139 by Joachim C. Fest - History - 1999
Variant: I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens.
Source: Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than You Think