I was unable to sleep and I would stay up and draw these little cartoons. Then a friend showed them around. Before I knew it I was a cartoonist. – Lynda Barry
It’s not hard for me to be funny in front of people, but most of that is just horrified nerves taking the form of what makes people laugh, and afterwards I’d always feel dreadfully depressed, kind of self-induced bi-polar disorder. – Lynda Barry
For horror movies, color is reassuring because, at least in older films, it adds to the fakey-ness. – Lynda Barry
The minute you understand racism, you’re responsible for being racist. It’s like eating from the tree of knowledge. – Lynda Barry
I started doing cartoons when I was about 21. I never thought I would be a cartoonist. It happened behind my back. I was always a painter and drawer. – Lynda Barry
I’ve gotten a lot of livid letters about the awfulness of my work. I’ve never known what to make of it. Why do people bother to write if they hate what I do? – Lynda Barry
If I didn’t try to eavesdrop on every bus ride I take or look for the humor when I go for a walk, I would just be depressed all the time. – Lynda Barry
Humor is such a wonderful thing, helping you realize what a fool you are but how beautiful that is at the same time. – Lynda Barry
For ‘Picture This,’ I wanted it to be a drawing book that didn’t have any instructions about drawing, beyond the real simple stuff you’d find like in a Bazooka bubblegum wrapper, or in ‘Highlights’ magazine. I just wanted it to be feelings about looking and seeing and pictures. – Lynda Barry
I used to live a very social life and never spend much solitary time looking at birds or reading. – Lynda Barry
It’s one thing to have a relationship, to lay your hands on it, and another to make it continue and last. That’s something I haven’t talked about much in my comic strips, and it’s certainly something I’m interested in. – Lynda Barry
I found myself compelled – like this weird, shameful compulsion – to draw cute animals. – Lynda Barry
I live in constant fear of being fired or dropped for that dark part of my work I can’t control. – Lynda Barry
Remember when you were in school and the teacher would put a picture under an overhead projector so you could see it on the wall? God, I loved that. Tellya the truth, I used to look at that beam of light and think it was God. – Lynda Barry
Remember how you used to be able to feel your bed breathing and the walls spinning when you were a kid? – Lynda Barry
I listen like mad to any conversation taking place next to me just trying to hear why this is funny. Women’s restrooms are especially great. I wash my hands twice waiting for people to come in and start talking. – Lynda Barry
I need to be cheered up a lot. I think funny people are people who need to be cheered up. – Lynda Barry
The happy ending is hardly important, though we may be glad it’s there. The real joy is knowing that if you felt the trouble in the story, your kingdom isn’t dead. – Lynda Barry
I do dumb stuff, like playing my favorite dumb Barry White song and lip-synching into the mirror so it looks like his voice is coming out of my mouth. – Lynda Barry
I am not sure how much I would like being married if I wasn’t married to him. A man who likes flea markets and isn’t gay? I knew I was lucky. – Lynda Barry
