Lynn Johnston Quotes & Sayings

I was just so lucky to have a wonderful life after a tough marriage. — Lynn Johnston

I know it sounds crazy, but I have had far more connection with my parents after their deaths. — Lynn Johnston

If I was in love with someone, I would get their picture out of the school yearbook and do portraits. If I was curious about sex, I would draw pictures of it. There were no books for me to look at. Then I would go find my father's matches to burn the paper. — Lynn Johnston

When Kate was born, she was born into a world of joy and happiness and confidence. The difference between the children is night and day. She's happy, she's thriving, she's full of self-confidence. I tell her she's beautiful every day before I send her off to school. — Lynn Johnston

I've had some tremendous adventures, good and bad. It's part of the novel, and a novel isn't interesting if it doesn't have some good and bad. And you don't know what good is if bad hasn't been a part of your life. — Lynn Johnston

The most profound statements are often said in silence. — Lynn Johnston

And my father was a comic. He could play any musical instrument. He loved to perform. He was a wonderfully comedic character. He had the ability to dance and sing and charm and analyze poetry. — Lynn Johnston

Sure, I've had some bad times, but everybody does. But people don't get to talk about them like I do, unless they do to a therapist. People don't get to put them in the paper like I do. — Lynn Johnston

Every time I "get with the program" somebody changes the channel. — Lynn Johnston

But even though all this was going on at home, if someone had tried to take me away and put me in a children's home, I couldn't have handled it. Even though my mother was very brutal, it was my home. — Lynn Johnston

I've always felt that life is a novel, and part of it is written for you, and part of it is written by you. It's up to you to write the ending, ultimately. — Lynn Johnston

I had a terrible marriage the first time around because I had no self-confidence, even though I had tremendous self-confidence. — Lynn Johnston

After I got this job at the syndicate, I started sending them money so they could go on trips and do the things they could never afford to do. All the while, I never knew that my mother was socking money away. — Lynn Johnston

I often think you bring unhappiness on yourself, because if you don't like yourself very much, you allow yourself to be influenced by people who reinforce that. — Lynn Johnston

Photographs help people look at things they may not be able or may not want to look at. Until you can look at something, you can't change it. First you have to look at it, then you have a chance to understand it and can change it. — Lynn Johnston

You see, anything I imagined, I could draw. — Lynn Johnston

You think about child abuse and you think of a father viciously attacking a daughter or a son, but in my family it was my mother. My mother, I would say, was a ... very brutal disciplinarian. — Lynn Johnston

Complaining is good for you as long as you're not complaining to the person you're complaining about. — Lynn Johnston

On a lazy Saturday morning when you're lying in bed, drifting in and out of sleep, there is a space where fantasy and reality become one. Are you awake, or are you dreaming? You see people and things; some are familiar; some are strange. You talk, you feel, but you move without walking; you fly without wings. Your mind and your body exist, but on separate planes. Time stands still. For me, this is the feeling I have when ideas come. — Lynn Johnston

It's taken me a long time to become the person I am, for all the ugliness to fall away. The rotten flesh is gone, and the seed is there. I can touch that now. — Lynn Johnston

Not being able to sleep is terrible. You have the misery of having partied all night ... Without the satisfaction. — Lynn Johnston

Never tell anyone that you're writing a book, going on a diet, exercising, taking a course, or quitting smoking. They'll encourage you to death. — Lynn Johnston

People never knew we were poor, but out of that poverty came the most incredible inventions - board games, recipes ... we never stopped inventing. — Lynn Johnston

You have to be in love with your story ... It's the love of the light; the time of day; of watching the moment unravel. — Lynn Johnston

We are all born with wonderful gifts. We use these gifts to express ourselves, to amuse, to strengthen, and to communicate. We begin as children to explore and develop our talents, often unaware that we are unique, that not everyone can do what we're doing! — Lynn Johnston

I'm not just buying a car - I'm buying a lifestyle! — Lynn Johnston

That's what my mother did. And my father was the first person she'd met who treated her kindly. She was terrified of men, and she married a very meek, kind, dear man. And she had the upper hand. She ruled the roost. — Lynn Johnston

You don't have to die in order to make a living. — Lynn Johnston

Aaron and I will be joined at the hip until the day we die. We have loved and hated each other since the day he was born. He's very much a part of my heart. He's going to broadcasting college now, and he'll do fine. But he came into a world that did not welcome him. — Lynn Johnston

An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything. — Lynn Johnston

My mother was a very literate person who had educated herself. She had an exceptional vocabulary. — Lynn Johnston

The emphasis in doing any in-depth photography is on building relationships, quality relationships. It's what I call thirty-cups-of-coffee-a-frame photography. You need to enter into the community - not just photographically, but intellectually and emotionally. — Lynn Johnston

Yes, and when I had Aaron, he left me, and I didn't know how to raise a child. And I wasn't close to my parents, and because I was too proud to go to my parents for help, I mistreated that little baby. I didn't want a baby. — Lynn Johnston

When you're shy, a camera becomes an entry into life. It was a kind of shield I could hide my shyness behind, and it allowed me to become an active observer rather than a passive one. — Lynn Johnston

Memories and magic is what Christmas is all about. — Lynn Johnston

Mom and Dad would stay in bed on Sunday morning, but the kids would have to go to church. — Lynn Johnston

My brother was a great audience, and if he liked the picture, he would laugh and laugh and laugh, and he would want to keep the picture. Making people laugh with an image I had created ... what power that was! — Lynn Johnston

Only a couple of times have I ever been to church and felt enlightened by it. — Lynn Johnston

You do not have to die to save their lives. — Lynn Johnston

The toughest question has always been, "How do you get your ideas?" How do you answer that? It's like asking runners how they run, or singers how they sing. They just do it! — Lynn Johnston

No matter how old you are, there's always something good to look forward to. — Lynn Johnston

I loved the Little Lulu stories, where she would fantasize that her bedroom rug would turn into a pool of water, and she could dive down into the center of the world. — Lynn Johnston

In a way, a certain amount of self-criticism is a good thing, because it keeps you humble. Realizing that no matter what success you've achieved, you can still make enemies makes you humble, too. — Lynn Johnston

But I married a guy who treated me very badly, but I was happy. I was miserable, so I was happy. — Lynn Johnston