Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig, typically referred to as Leunig, is an Australian cartoonist, poet and cultural commentator. His best known works include The Adventures of Vasco Pyjama and the Curly Flats series. He was declared an Australian Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1999...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionCartoonist
Date of Birth2 June 1945
CountryAustralia
truth
Sometimes a witticism has no truth behind it.
greedy
Every child is a greedy child, I think. I mean, it's healthy to be a greedy child.
added age alluring clothes connect dutch embark fell love mysterious seemed sisters speak vast word
At the age of nine, I simultaneously fell in love with two Dutch sisters because they seemed so beautifully strange, and their clothes were mysterious and alluring - added to which, they could not speak a word of English. More than anything, I wanted to connect with them and embark on a vast journey of exploration.
advanced age false vaguely
At my advanced age, I know I am not an anti-Semite, not even vaguely or remotely, but others would seem to know better, as false accusers always do.
children surprising
My children just want to get at the world; it is so pleasantly surprising to witness that.
arise best humbling wisdom
Wisdom may best arise from a humbling reality.
alone dares evermore protest shall
Who can protest alone? Who dares rise up? It is not easy. One is all alone, and evermore shall be so.
function melancholy
I think melancholy is part of the natural condition, you know. Anyway, I think it's the artist's function to have their melancholy and not hide it, you see.
claiming difficult fear free history imagine lived people time
It is difficult to imagine any time in history when so many people claiming to be so free have lived in so much fear of being unattractive.
life
Have I got the right to experiment with my child's life?
happiness
To live in the midst of suffering, which we do, we do, amid distress, and to keep some equilibrium in the midst of that - that would be happiness enough.
became sort
I became a cartoonist because I'd sort of failed at everything else, really. I mean, it was by default.
confronted encounter horrifying man nailed people repulsive statue suddenly
Many people first encounter Jesus during childhood when they are suddenly confronted by a horrifying statue of a man nailed to a cross, and this is often a most unfortunate and repulsive beginning.
endless exist few fully god humans themselves wonder
So few humans seem to fully exist themselves that I wonder if all this endless speculation and haggling about God is really an exploration of a more interesting and embarrassing question about ourselves.