Top 100 Matt Groening Quotes
#1. If something is too hard to do, then it's not worth doing. You just stick that guitar in the closet next to your shortwave radio, your karate outfit and your unicycle and we'll go inside and watch TV.
Matt Groening
#2. I thought I was going to make crazy cartoons for the rest of my life. I didn't think I'd ever get paid for it, didn't think I drew well enough, but I knew it made me happy.
Matt Groening
#3. I know all those words, but that sentence makes no sense to me.
Matt Groening
#4. A lot of our writers, like Conan O'Brien, moved on to other things
Matt Groening
#5. Basically, everything I try to do is to present an alternative to what somebody else is doing.
Matt Groening
#6. The conundrum that I face on a daily basis is that I have two sons who have grown up watching 'The Simpsons,' so they know exactly what buttons to push. They know how Bart irritates Homer, and they use these lines against me to tell me that I'm not funny anymore.
Matt Groening
#7. Stop thinking about fun and have it
Homer Simpson
Matt Groening
#8. 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.
Matt Groening
#9. When DVDs finally disappear, I'm going to be sad. I'll miss the commentaries.
Matt Groening
#10. You can't keep blaming yourself. Just blame yourself once, and move on.
Homer Simpson
Matt Groening
#11. 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.
Matt Groening
#12. I think in daily newspapers, the way comic strips are treated, it's as if newspaper publishers are going out of their way to kill the medium.
Matt Groening
#13. 'The Simpsons' from the very beginning was based on our memories of brash '60s sitcoms - you had a main title theme that was bombastic and grabbed your attention - and when you look at TV shows of the 1970s and '80s, things got very mild and toned down and ... obsequious.
Matt Groening
#14. 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.
Matt Groening
#15. 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.
Matt Groening
#16. You know, the courts may not be working any more, but as long as everyone is videotaping everyone else, justice will be done.
Matt Groening
#17. Your cable television is experiencing difficulties. Please do not panic. Resist the temptation to read or talk to loved ones. Do not attempt sexual relations, as years of TV radiation have left your genitals withered and useless.
Matt Groening
#18. You toyed with my heart, like it was a toy heart. (Lisa Simpson)
Matt Groening
#19. 'The Simpsons' is an especially collaborative show.
Matt Groening
#20. 'The Simpsons' is about alienation and the ambivalence of living with a family who you love but who drive you completely crazy.
Matt Groening
#21. I like the 'Simpsons' pinball machines. Those are pretty great.
Matt Groening
#22. I gave away 'Life in Hell' when it was a little 'zine, and sold it at record stores for $1, and I knew from the time that I first did it that I would continue to do it, because it was fun.
Matt Groening
#23. Everybody doesn't have to get every joke. People really appreciate not being condescended to.
Matt Groening
#24. You've got to embrace the future. You can whine about it, but you've got to embrace it.
Matt Groening
#25. 'Adult Swim' on the Cartoon Network is unbelievable. And 'South Park' continues to do great stuff. And 'Family Guy' and the various other Seth MacFarlane projects are amazing.
Matt Groening
#26. Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and answer to, all of life's problems.
Matt Groening
#28. Did you hear something?"
"No."
"Did I hear something?"
" ... I don't know ...
Matt Groening
#29. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments, soccer games, romances, best friends, location of friend's houses, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.
Matt Groening
#30. I personally like the idea of newspapers. It's a good format. You can read it in whatever order you want. You can glance at it. There is something about a single screen and scrolling through pages that just doesn't have the same appeal.
Matt Groening
#31. Charles Schultz is a really interesting case. He wrote that comic strip and drew it himself from beginning to end, and it's a work of genius. It's very simply drawn, but it has some really deep emotions that you don't expect in a silly-looking comic strip.
Matt Groening
#32. With animation, because you can draw anything and do anything and have the characters do whatever you want, the tendency is to be very loose with the boundaries and the rules.
Matt Groening
#33. If at first you don't succeed - give it up. It isn't worth the pain.
Matt Groening
#34. I have less to do with 'The Simpsons' every season, but I stick my nose in here and there. Basically, it's just trying to keep the characters consistent and making sure the show has a soul.
Matt Groening
#35. The thing about a cartoon is, you can do whatever you want. The tightrope that we are walking on 'The Simpsons' and 'Futurama' is 'How do you continue to surprise the audience, but make them good surprises?' Not every surprise is good, but you want to continue jolting people.
Matt Groening
#36. With 'Futurama,' I was just worried that somebody would beat us to it; it seemed so obvious that there should be an animated science fiction show set in the future. And one of the reasons why it's not, I learned, is that it's really, really difficult.
Matt Groening
#37. Do we have any food that wasn't brutally slaughtered?" Homer: "Well, I think the veal died of loneliness.
Matt Groening
#38. Do my worst, eh? Smithers, release the robotic Richard Simmons.
Mr. Burns
Matt Groening
#39. Well you know boys, a nuclear reactor is a lot like women. You just have to read the manual and press the right button.
Matt Groening
#40. I went to Bali, and I was in a small village, and somebody who was with me showed a woman a little figurine of Bart and asked: 'Do you know who this is?' And she said: 'Mickey Mouse.'
Matt Groening
#41. Sometimes people try to read into my strip and find out what my state of mind is. And I can say if I'm in a good mood, generally the comic strip starts out in a good mood, but the punchline is very negative and sour.
Matt Groening
#42. Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
Matt Groening
#43. For some reason, a lot of Hollywood big shots are curious to see how they'd be drawn with bulging eyes and no chin.
Matt Groening
#44. I pledge impertinence to the flag waving, of the unindicted co-conspirators of America, and to the republicans for which I can't stand, one abomination, underhanded fraud, indefensible, with Liberty and Justice.. Forget it.
Matt Groening
#45. I have to say that The Simpsons comes from a huge number of great writers headed by Al Jean, the show-runner, and the work that they do is really fantastic. It's a blast just to sit around with them in the writers' room and listen to all the filthy jokes that will never get on the air.
Matt Groening
#46. My standard comment is, 'If you don't want your kids to be like Bart Simpson, don't act like Homer Simpson.'
Matt Groening
#48. But we all had an agreement to let each other get away with everything! That's Capitalism!
Matt Groening
#49. Lisa, I apologize to you, I was wrong, I take it all back. Always be yourself. If you want to be sad, honey, be sad. We'll ride it out with you. And when you get finished feeling sad, we'll still be there. From now on, let me do the smiling for both of us.
Matt Groening
#50. I've found that 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.
Matt Groening
#51. 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.
Matt Groening
#52. One of the great things about the Internet is that you can read what everybody has to say about everything. It is fascinating to me, the critiques about humor by people who have no sense of humor.
Matt Groening
#53. The amazing thing about Freak Out! was that there was nothing quite like it in rock 'n roll at the time. It was really simultaneously crude and ugly, and incredibly sophisticated. The Beatles were funny, but there was nothing with the kind of sneer that you could feel in the music of Frank Zappa.
Matt Groening
#55. But Marge, what if we chose the wrong religion? Each week we just make God madder and madder.
Matt Groening
#56. On 'The Simpsons,' I will say that we definitely like to comment on what's going on in the world, and we try to be funny. If we can figure out a way of being funny about it, then we've gone part of the way of accomplishing our task.
Matt Groening
#57. People go into cartooning because they're shy and they're angry. That's when you're sitting in the back of a classroom drawing the teacher.
Matt Groening
#58. 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.
Matt Groening
#59. How can I be expected to love someone who tries such crude manipulations as bringing me breakfast in bed?
Matt Groening
#60. I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my homosexuals flaming.
Matt Groening
#61. 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.
Matt Groening
#62. The French are funny, sex is funny, and comedies are funny, yet no French sex comedies are funny.
Matt Groening
#63. My life changed when I was able to not only get seated in nice restaurants, I was given free appetizers. That was like, "Oh, my God, I've arrived".
Matt Groening
#64. I know for a fact, obviously, because my kids grew up watching the show, that there are some things they are introduced to from 'The Simpsons', and then later in life they see the thing we're parodying. My kids had not seen 'Casablanca,' and we'd done parodies of 'Casablanca.'
Matt Groening
#65. 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.
Matt Groening
#66. In 'Futurama,' the skin color is no longer yellow. They have actually evolved to cartoon skin tone. But they still have four fingers.
Matt Groening
#68. If I have one technology tip of the day, it's this: No matter how good the video on YouTube is, don't read the comments, just don't, because it will make you hate all humans.
Matt Groening
#69. I think 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad' have definitely staked out their own style and territory, and now the accusations are coming that 'The Simpsons' is taking jokes from 'Family Guy.' And I can tell you, that ain't the case.
Matt Groening
#70. I can't believe it! Reading and writing actually paid off!
Matt Groening
#71. I've conducted an experiment on my kids. Instead of denying them access to media, I've encouraged it. They read comic books, play Nintendo and watch way too much TV.
Matt Groening
#72. 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.
Matt Groening
#73. I grew up completely overwhelmed by TV, and part of the reason why I have gone into television is as a way to justify to myself all those wasted hours of watching TV as a kid. I can now look back and say, 'Oh, that was research.'
Matt Groening
#74. 'The Simpsons' obviously is a huge success, and Fox has nothing to do with its success, with its creative success, and as a result they don't really like the show. They don't like 'The Simpsons' at Fox.
Matt Groening
#75. Keep your expectations tiny you'll go through life not so whiney.
Matt Groening
#76. Part of the fun of being alive is knowing that you're annoying the hell out of someone else.
Matt Groening
#77. When authorities warn you of the sinfulness of sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities.
Matt Groening
#78. How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?
Matt Groening
#79. Fans think they want to see more than the 10 to 20 seconds of Itchy and Scratchy that we put on the show, but my feeling is less is more. Once you've skinned and flayed a cat, ripped his head off, made him drink acid and tied his tongue to the moon, there really isn't that much to say.
Matt Groening
#80. 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.
Matt Groening
#81. I'm a fan of animation and so, the more stuff that doesn't look like the other stuff that's out there, I'm in favor.
Matt Groening
#82. I'm not going to stop torturing myself till I figure out the cause of my pain.
Matt Groening
#83. I've been deadline-driven for my whole grown-up life, and that hasn't gone away. It is nice to be able to reflect about the big picture, about what kind of stories you want to tell, and how to take advantage of success.
Matt Groening
#84. Well, most grown-ups forget what it was like to be a kid. I vowed that I would never forget.
Matt Groening
#85. A lot of American shows don't last for as long as 12 episodes. They get cut after one. But certainly one of the great things about The Office in particular was that there was a beginning, a middle and an end.
Matt Groening
#86. I always thought that television was the way to go in my goal to invade pop culture because it got to towns in which there were no bookstores. That's how I used to think of it: How do I reach kids who not only don't read but probably have no access to much in the way of books?
Matt Groening
#87. You should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head.
Matt Groening
#88. Painted on shirts went over so well I thought, why not painted on pants? Well, the big shot manager at Krusty Burger didn't agree!
Matt Groening
#89. The world ends when I die. And as far as I'm concerned, the rest of the universe might as well call it a day too.
Matt Groening
#90. I may be biting off more than I can chew, but with 'The Simpsons' and with 'Futurama,' what I'm trying to do in the guise of light entertainment, if this is possible - is nudge people, jostle them a little, wake them up to some of the ways in which we're being manipulated and exploited.
Matt Groening
#92. I promise I'll do anything for you, especialy if it's easy.
Homer Simpson
Matt Groening
#93. When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
Matt Groening
#94. Are we alone in an uncaring universe, or is God some kind of wiseguy?
Matt Groening
#95. I loved literary science fiction. In fact, as a kid, when I was reading science fiction, I thought 'I can't wait for the future when the special effects are good' to represent what was in these books by Arthur C. Clarke, Alfred Bester, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Jack Vance.
Matt Groening
#96. We have 'Doctor Who' references on 'Futurama,' but we have a lot of science fiction references that I don't get; but in the staff we have experts on 'Star Trek,' 'Star Wars,' 'Doctor Who' and 'Dungeons and Dragons.'
Matt Groening
#97. 'The Simpsons' was about children and married parents; 'Futurama' is about people in between; they're growing up and haven't settled down. Every other cartoon show seemed to be, you know, dumb dad, bratty kids.
Matt Groening
#98. Anxiety and hostility seem to be a great part of good and bad humor. Examining humor too closely does seem to destroy it.
Matt Groening
#99. 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.
Matt Groening
#100. Science fiction and comedy are generally a pretty bumpy mix.
Matt Groening
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