JOSEPH BARBERA

Faced with the choice of enduring a bad toothache or going to the dentist, we generally tried to ride out the bad tooth.

What about Mickey Mouse? Disney tried very hard to make him a star. But Mickey Mouse is more of a symbol than a real character.

I hope we don't get to the point where we have to have the cat stop chasing the mouse to teach him glassblowing and basket weaving.

Los Angeles was an impression of failure, of disappointment, of despair, and of oddly makeshift lives. This is California? I thought.

Among the great glories of the MGM lot were the vast outdoor sets that had been constructed over the years.

My last days at MGM were like the fall of the Roman Empire in fast motion.

I was 82 years old before Who's Who thought I was enough of a big shot to do a piece on me.

I never got tired of Tom and Jerry, but I did have a dream of doing more with my life than making cartoons.

My biggest kick comes from the individual fans I run into. Middle-aged men ask me when we're going to do more Johnny Quest cartoons.

I was convinced there as only one actor to play Templeton the Rat, and that was Tony Randall.

What the real world of 1941 needed most was the release and relief provided by laughter.

While I have never been a regular churchgoer, I'm anything but immune to the power and the majesty of the religious experience.

High-level, big-deal publicity has a way of getting old for me, but what never fails to thrill me is when I make personal appearances.

I have spent a lot of years on the outside looking in.

I first pitched the idea of doing a series of cartoons based on Bible stories. They didn't much like it.

Making cartoons means very hard work at every step of the way, but creating a successful cartoon character is the hardest work of all.

Except for me, no one in my family could draw.

Parents look at me like I'm somebody pretty important, and say, We were raised on your characters, and now we're enjoying them all over again with our children.

I cannot say who, precisely, came up with the idea of a Stone Age family.

Friends don't necessarily made good business or creative partners.

One of the most attractive things about writing your autobiography is that you're not dead.

Publicity gets more than a little tiring. You want it, you need it, you crave it, and you're scared as hell when it stops.

Creating fantasy is a very personal thing, but you can't take the process too personally.

Despite the rejection, and in violation of all the rules, I came back year after year.

Not once in six years did I make it to the office by 9 on the dot.