William Boyd Watterson II is a retired American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the end of 1995 with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his negative views on licensing and comic syndication; his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic as an art form; and his move back into private life after he stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The suburban Midwestern United States setting of Ohio was part of the inspiration for Calvin and Hobbes. This Bill Watterson quotes will motivate you.
Best Bill Watterson Quotes
- “Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive… To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Weekends don’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“I let my mind wander and it didn’t come back.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “It’s hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “I asked mom if I was a gifted child. She said they certainly wouldn’t have paid for me.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “I liked things better when I didn’t understand them.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Know what’s weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything’s different.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“I know the world isn’t fair, but why isn’t it ever unfair in my favor?” ~ Bill Watterson
- “To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Boy, there’s nothing worse than an inscrutable omen.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “It’s not denial. I’m just selective about the reality I accept.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. What mood is that? Last-minute panic.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“Tomorrow we’ll not only seize the day, we’ll throttle it.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “People always make the mistake of thinking art is created for them. But really, art is a private language for sophisticates to congratulate themselves on their superiority to the rest of the world. As my artist’s statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “The secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that’s even worse” ~ Bill Watterson
- “I wish people were more like animals. Animals don’t try to change you or make you fit in. They just enjoy the pleasure of your company. Animals aren’t conditional about friendships. Animals like you just the way you are. They listen to your problems, they comfort you when you’re sad, and all they ask in return is a little kindness.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “What’s the point of wearing your favorite rocketship underpants if nobody ever asks to see ’em?” ~ Bill Watterson
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“I try to make everyone’s day a little more surreal.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “It’s psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I’ll get a saw.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Calvin: Know what I pray for? Hobbes: What? Calvin: The strength to change what I can, the inability to accept what I can’t, and the incapacity to tell the difference.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “The problem with people is that they’re only human.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Surprise is the essence of humor, and nothing is more surprising than truth.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“A REAL job is a job you hate.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “I’m killing time while I wait for life to shower me with meaning and happiness.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don’t help.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Isn’t it sad how some people’s grip on their lives is so precarious that they’ll embrace any preposterous delusion rather than face an occasional bleak truth?” ~ Bill Watterson
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“If good things lasted forever, would we appreciate how precious they are?” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Problems often look overwhelming at first. The secret is to break problems into small, manageable chunks. If you deal with those, you’re done before you know it.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “If you do the job badly enough, sometimes you don’t get asked to do it again.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Who was the guy who first looked at a cow and said ‘I think I’ll drink whatever comes out of these when I squeeze ’em?” ~ Bill Watterson
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“Look! A trickle of water running through some dirt! I’d say our afternoon just got booked solid!” ~ Bill Watterson
- “We all have different desires and needs, but if we don’t discover what we want from ourselves and what we stand for, we will live passively and unfulfilled. Sooner or later, we are all asked to compromise ourselves and the things we care about. We define ourselves by our actions. With each decision, we tell ourselves and the world who we are. Think about what you want out of this life, and recognize that there are many kinds of success.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “If your knees aren’t green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you happiness outside of success or failure.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “I don’t think I’d have been in such a hurry to reach adulthood if I’d known the whole thing was going to be ad-libbed.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“Reality continues to ruin my life.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Life’s disappointments are harder to take when you don’t know any swear words.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “I’m related to people I don’t relate to.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “It’s surprising how hard we’ll work when the work is done just for ourselves.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live a lot differently.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Repetition is the death of magic.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“I’ll bet my autopsy reveals my mouth is too big.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy… Let’s go exploring!” ~ Bill Watterson
- “My whole problem is that my lips move when I think.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?” ~ Bill Watterson
- “I’m not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “They say the secret of success is being at the right place at the right time, but since you never know when the right time is going to be, I figure the trick is to find the right place and just hang around.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“I’m not a vegetarian! I’m a dessertarian!” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Calvin: They say the world is a stage. But obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines. Hobbes: Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce. Calvin: We need more special effects and dance numbers.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “You know what I like about summer days? They’re just made for doing things… even if it’s nothing. Especially if it’s nothing.” ~ Bill Watterson Quotes
- “Calvin: The more you know, the harder it is to take decisive action. Once you are informed, you start seeing complexities and shades of gray. You realize nothing is as clear as it first appears. Ultimately, knowledge is paralyzing. Being a man of action, I cannot afford to take that risk. Hobbes: You’re ignorant, but at least you act on it.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind that I will never die.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “There’s no problem so awful that you can’t add some guilt to it and make it even worse!” ~ Bill Watterson
- “I learned about what I love. Imagination, deep friendship, animals, family, the natural world, ideas and ideals … and silliness.” ~ Bill Watterson
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“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “Calvin: Somewhere in Communist Russia, I’ll bet there’s a little boy who has never known anything but censorship and oppression. But maybe he’s heard of America, and he dreams of living in this land of freedom and opportunity! Someday, I’d like to meet that little boy… and tell him the awful TRUTH ABOUT THIS PLACE!! Calvin’s Dad: Calvin, be quiet and eat the stupid Lima beans.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “As far as I’m concerned, if something is so complicated that you can’t explain it in 10 seconds, then it’s probably not worth knowing anyway.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “You know, sometimes the world seems like a pretty mean place.’ ‘That’s why animals are so soft and huggy.” ~ Bill Watterson
- “It seems like once people grow up, they have no idea what’s cool.” ~ Bill Watterson
