On cartooning and design:
Good cartoon drawing is good design. A lot of people aren’t aware of that.
On the skills of a cartoonist:
Schulz: I have a combination of strange abilities I can draw pretty well, and i can write pretty well, and i can create pretty well, but I could never be an illustrator. It doesn’t interest me.
Rose: That’s because the idea doesn’t come from you?
Schulz: [Yes.]
On humor and sadness:
I suppose there’s a melancholy feeling in a lot of cartoonists, because cartooning, like all other humor, comes from bad things happening. People will say, “Well why don’t you have Charlie Brown kick the football?” And I say, “Well, that would be wonderful, it’s happy, but happiness is not funny.” I wish we could all be happy, but it isn’t funny.
On autobiography:
Schulz: All of the things that you see in the strip, if you were to read it every day and study it, you would know me.
Rose: To read your characters is to know you.
Schulz: Isn’t that depressing?
I tell ya what, I miss Schulz. I just listened to the unabridged audiobook version of Schulz, and, quite suitably, it left me feeling melancholy. Happy for the brilliance that was Peanuts, but a little sad because the book, at least, left the impression that he never really saw his own brilliance. And that he never full enjoyed the love and adoration of his fans, or even the financial success that came with the Charlie Brown juggernaut. And, though I have loved lots of comic strips–Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, etc–nothing every will, and nothing ever could, replace Peanuts. Mr. Schulz, even years after your passing, you are still sorely missed.