Matthew Tobin Anderson Quotes

I thought, I hate the thought of a 12, 13 or 14 year-old girl seeing a picture of me and thinking she'll do what I did.

Children's authors don't talk down or patronise their younger readers.

I don't want to tell a 15 or 14 year old what they should be doing. I want them to tell me. And that's what I got when I met Justin Bieber for the first time.

It seems to me that not only the writing in most children's books condescends to kids, but so does the art. I don't want to do that.

When I teach writing, I always tell my students you should assume that the audience you're writing for is smarter than you. You can't write if you don't think they're on your side, because then you start to yell at them or preach down to them.

Every time an adult is going to write something for a teenager and you don't have, physically, a person who is that, you are always going to be a little off.

I never wrote for children. I wrote with respect for the audience, which I've maintained all my life. Doesn't mean I couldn't be risque, but I did it smartly, without being vulgar.

Many filmmakers portray teenagers as immoral and ignorant, with pursuits that are pretty base... But I haven't found that to be the case. I listen to kids. I respect them... Some of them are as bright as any of the adults I've met.

I got extreme street credibility from my high school-aged son. He's like, 'Dad, the fact that you're in 'American Horror Story' is absolutely cool!' I was like, 'Okay, but I'm not sure if it's appropriate for you.' And he was like, 'Dad, come on! I'm a New York City kid - in high school.'

Older teens tend to write to me and say, 'Thank you for not writing down to teenagers.' And then there are the letters from adults who say, 'This is such a good book; why did you write it for teens?'

We're kind of doing what Bob McAllister did with 'Wonderama,' which is making people realize that kids are people, too.

I feel like I've got really good rapport with parents. They always say I'm a YouTuber they can feel safe just letting their kids watch.

I don't pull punches at all, and I write my material for adults. But if kids like it, they can come watch it. I'll never change anything about what I do for anyone. I kind of think that's why kids like me. If you're a teenager, and there's someone onstage talking to you like an adult, that's good.

We need to care enough to connect, to put ourselves at emotional risk and play one note worth hearing.

Everything is more compelling when you talk like a human being, when you talk like yourself.

I don't want to start singing about things like sex, drugs and swearing. I'm into love, and maybe I'll get more into making love when I'm older. But I want to be someone who is respected by everybody.

A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them.

My goal is to speak the truth in love. There are a lot of people speaking the truth with no love, and there are a lot of people talking about love without much truth.

A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect.

My son plays football so I coach a couple of his teams. My youngest son just started playing last year and I assistant coached for one of his teams. I try to be there as much as I can. I also want to kill the stereotype. I want them to respect me as a man and a father first and then if you like hip hop go buy my album.

I think I was shown Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas at seven or eight. That's really bad. I think I've turned out all right; it didn't harm me too much.

Beneatha: You didn't tell us what Alaiyo means... for all I know, you might be calling me Little Idiot or something... ... Asagai: It means... it means One for Whom Bread--Food--Is Not Enough.

I'm not trying to say something super complicated. I allow myself to say certain things that mean a lot to me.

Speech, after all, is in some measure an expression of character, and flexibility in its use is a good way to tell your friends from the robots.

You don't want to be glib; you want to treat every story respectfully.