Roz Chast Quotes

I was so determined not to pass on to my children what I perceived to be the faults of my upbringing.

My mother died when I was two years old; that's why I have so many daddy issues. And that's why my relationship with my dad is so strong.

I always have roles with a depressing childhood for some reason. I have a nice childhood, so I don't know why.

I think a lot of people want to blame their fathers for not being good enough when they were growing up. I think it can be an excuse for not coming to terms with your own problems.

My father is the reason I am the way I am today. He's why I acted up and he's why I prayed to be the opposite of him. We made up before he died but I vowed to never raise my kids like how he raised me.

Dummy Dum Dum was my nickname for years at school. I was the strange one of the family, the one who couldn't remember his name.

When you take the time to understand why your parents did the things they did, you stand a good chance of learning more about your own behavior.

I come personally from a broken family, divorced very early in my childhood, a family with its own share of troubles, so I think that was very influential in both me believing that someday I would consistently devote myself to my own family that I created, but I think it also really affects my view of the world.

Everything we are is anchored in our childhoods. The drama comes in how we deal with it. Are we slaves to our past, or can we rise above it? This is the stuff of great stories.

My older kids are fantastic people. It can't be the result of my influence on them.

I had a lot of anger because I wasn't happy with the way I had been raised.

I was always being called upon to be an honorary boy alongside my brothers. I don't think I'd be a comic now if it hadn't been for that.

I never really got nightmares from movies. In fact, I recall my father saying when I was three years old that I would be scared, but I never was. I was much more terrified by my own family and real life, you know?

My parents separated it, and that let me know that TV life wasn't my normal life; that was my job and my hobby.

Childhood is so important. Without a loving one, you're vulnerable throughout your life. We're all the things our parents are - the good and the not so good. Thankfully, I have a wonderful wife who's a brilliant mother.

When I wrote 'Runaways,' I was a naive kid who thought that all parents were evil. Now that I'm a wise old man with children of my own, I am certain that all parents are evil.

My parents split up when I was about 2. I realize more and more how much I'm like my father. My gentleness comes from my mother.

I guess, for me, I've always thought that there was humor everywhere. And as a kid, I just, you know, I grew up an only child, and I - sort of nothing made me happier than to make my parents laugh. I remember I had costumes and things laying around the house that I was, you know, anything that I could do to make my parents laugh.

When you have parents who are a little out of their minds, somebody has to take responsibility.

I wasn't very good a communicating as a kid. I wasn't very good at speaking my mind, and I went through some challenges as a kid with my family, as we all do.

I think that's like the age-old psychological core issue for any situation. Anybody who has had an experience with a parent that is absent, it's going to manifest.

Everything a parent chooses to do in their life will forever haunt their kids.

Money and success haven't really changed my beliefs or opinions over the years. When I was growing up, my mum and dad split when I was 13 or 14, during the early-Nineties recession. At that time, my dad went bankrupt, and it played a huge part in it all at home.

We all have baggage from our upbringing! That's life!

My dad was well known on the streets, shall we say, and he had a different lifestyle, which could spill into the home setting. Being exposed to that at a young age was difficult.