Henson Quotes & Sayings

We sent a troupe to Edinborough, and then in Edinborough, there was a producer from the Melbourne Comedy Festival, so we went to Melbourne. So it's one of these shows that kind of organically developed and it started developing momentum way before I even thought there was a show here. — Brian Henson

It's into the same bag as E.T. and Yoda, wherein you're trying to create something that people will actually believe, but it's not so much a symbol of the thing, but you're trying to do the thing itself. — Jim Henson

I have known tragedy, extreme physical difficulty, and the frustration of just trying to make my life "work." I was in an abyss so deep that I wondered if I could ever get out of it. — Karen Henson Jones

We see with our eyes. We know with our hearts. Outside ... Inside. — Jim Henson

Nobody creates a fad. It just happens. People love going along with the idea of a beautiful pig. It's like a conspiracy. — Jim Henson

On practical level I can't pick up the camera until I think I know what I want. I don't wander around. It's almost impossible for me to pick up a camera ... it's really hard. — Bill Henson

I love the Avengers movies and Iron Man and Captain America. — Elden Henson

I'm sorry. It feels like the moment calls for some humor. You're ranting and dressed like Elmo.

The Cookie Monster.

Whatever, Rashid — Rion Amilcar Scott

If you can't beat them. Join them — Jim Henson

Take what you got and fly with it. — Jim Henson

So while you're trying to improvise, you're also trying to puppeteer, you're doing everything that you need to do to perform a puppet in our style, for a camera. — Brian Henson

It's actually good when the performers are nervous, because it kind of sharpens up your brain and a little bit of adrenaline is good. Initially it's really tough. — Brian Henson

I don't think a living being should suffer for the sake of fashion, period. End of story. You don't have to kill an animal just because you want to be hot and fly. And I really stand by that. — Taraji P. Henson

People under the influence of cults is similar to that we observe in addicts. Typical behaviour for both includes draining bank accounts, neglecting children, destroying relations with family and losing interest in anything except the drug or cult. — Keith Henson

But curriculum-wise, I was drawn to the sciences and specifically to physics, and I really enjoyed it and I think for a little while there, I was really thinking my schooling would be in physics, that that was something I loved. — Brian Henson

Anyone who has ever had the feeling of being higher than a kite after giving a public speech is well aware of the effects of attention. — Keith Henson

If anyone wonders why the airlines are not doing well it is because flying has been made such an unpleasant and degrading experience. — Keith Henson

Most men are fragile. — Taraji P. Henson

I keep saying that, if Samuel L. Jackson and Bette Davis could have a baby, it would be Taraji P. Henson. To me, she's one of the greatest character actors of our generation, let alone leading ladies. She's just phenomenal in everything she does. — Jussie Smollett

I'm a creative person, so I have to stay busy. — Taraji P. Henson

Patrick thought we should try to put an audience in front of one of the workshops, basically in front of the class and see how the performers rose to having an audience there, because he said, "You know, it's a really interesting test, because sometimes it gets even funnier." — Brian Henson

And if the audience is in a kind of naughty, raunchy mood, then they're going to make naughty, raunchy suggestions and then we take them and we do the scene anyway, and that's part of the fun. — Brian Henson

We try to keep it a classy show, but it certainly is blue at times. And it all depends on the audience, sometimes we've have audiences that don't really want us to go too far in that direction. — Brian Henson

It's an important moment. I just feel like I want it to happen tonight, either for myself or Viola [Davis] so we can get past it, so it's not big news anymore. I mean, it is 2015. We have a black president. — Taraji P. Henson

He puppeteers really responded to it. Patrick Bistrow really responded to it, it's great fun to do improve comedy with puppets. — Brian Henson

My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here. — Jim Henson

I do remember doing shows strictly in black and white, too, so you're right. — Jim Henson

The challenge is, well, there's a huge challenge, which is when you're improvising, you're meant to sort of clear your mind completely, just be open and funny, and paying, you know, paying attention. — Brian Henson

The spirits made her sick, and I don't just mean the Scotch. — Lenora Henson

I thought, well, if we're inviting an audience, let's do it right. So I put in a proper studio audience at our studios in Los Angeles and it was just a little showcase and it was just for fun. — Brian Henson

The rare person is still interested in new advances when they are adults. There is possibly a correlation with intelligence. In any case, you have to be fairly bright to keep learning and changing attitudes as you get older. — Keith Henson

Life is meant to be fun, and joyous, and fulfilling. — Jim Henson

At the time of Polaroid - and I did a couple of other commercials just before I stopped doing that stuff - at that point I was at the level where they respect you and your opinion and all that sort of thing. — Jim Henson

"Stuffed and Unstrung" started as a workshop, actually, classes within our company. We found that our puppeteers were not ad libbing as well as traditionally, Jim Henson Company puppeteers have. We're sort of famous for going off script a little bit and ad libbing. — Brian Henson

We kind of lost a lot of that and puppeteers were sticking to the script and we thought everything needed to get a lot funnier, so we thought we would go to a good improv comedy instructor. — Brian Henson

I would love to do a biopic of a famous singer, like Diana Ross or Donna Summer, or an old jazz story that we haven't seen before. I would love to do that! I would love to play Diana Ross 'cause she's an icon. I'm salivating to do that. — Taraji P. Henson

As children, we all live in a world of imagination, of fantasy, and for some of us that world of make-believe continues into adulthood. — Jim Henson

On my iPad, and I'm quite a fool for this, but I use Post-It notes to cover up the camera. It's just weird with that little eye there and sometimes it'll be green and I know I didn't turn it on. It's very spooky. — Taraji P. Henson

Rachel Henson stood facing him, immaculate in her uniform and ready for duty as always. She looked as though she had spent her whole life preparing for this very moment - she always did. — Peter James West

It's really great to do one piece, "I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face," my dad developed in 1956, when he was 20 years old, and it's great to do that piece again now and see that it still really works as well as it ever did. — Brian Henson

My siblings and I, we were raised on TV and films. Not a day went by that we weren't watching one of three movies - 'Caddyshack,' 'Animal House,' 'Beverly Hills Cop' - on rotation. Our comedy, our personalities were set watching 'Sesame Street': these really sort of wacky, Jim Henson-y characters. — Teddy Sears

I feel like I'm already a winner. I've made so many dreams come true. I'm here. Whether you walk away with a statue [ Emmy]or not, you shouldn't make it about it that necessarily. Everyone who's here in this house tonight is a winner. — Taraji P. Henson

High status males had multiple wives or additional mating opportunities in the ancestral environment. — Keith Henson

A puppet that starts to improvise badly is almost funnier than the puppet that's improvising well. So the show gets better when the improvising is really good, but also the show can also sometimes get better when the improvising sort of goes a little wrong and that's sort of a blessing to improvising with puppets. — Brian Henson

To every dreamer, you direct the light of all the world! — Tamara Henson

When I said I would be the judge of your worth, I did not mean that I owned your life, Rowan Jun.
Garyn Kei — Tamara Henson

The world is a colony of the US. The twentieth century was the US's century. — Bill Henson

(Lisa Henson about her father) He admired the job of the man who walks along the road picking up trash with a long stick. He thought that guy had a great job, walking along with a stick, enjoying the road, and doing only good in the world, with hundreds of small actions. — Jim Henson

I suspect that a substantial fraction of human problems in the world today, not just cults, result from the mismatch between the current environment and the environment in which we evolved. — Keith Henson

I don't care if you're a man, if you're a player: If God sends you that one and your heart is in it, you'll work it out. — Taraji P. Henson

I think initially it's terrifying because going into a show where, you know, "Oh, I'm going to be on stage for two hours, I have no lines to memorize, I have nothing really prepared," and actually I say that, the show is not all improvising. — Brian Henson

And then after the success at Melbourne Comedy Festival, then we regrouped back in LA and we went back into workshopping and decided to develop a proper show and that's when we started working on "Stuffed and Unstrung," which is a much bigger and sharper version of "Puppet Up." — Brian Henson

Scn is like HIV. Gets in there and screws up the immune system, perverts the law to its own ends. Forget government taking the lead role in bringing down scn, that task falls to you and me. — Keith Henson

As a boy I was obsessed with Egypt and Egyptology. I'm convinced it's not that uncommon. A lot of 10 or 12 year old boys become obsessed with Egypt. It's a bit like young girls and horses ... — Bill Henson

I started off in drama, and there are so many women that I admire. Women in this industry are gladiators. Cicely Tyson, Viola Davis, Taraji Henson, Regina Hall, Regina King. — Bresha Webb

Simple is good." - Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets — Montgomery J. Granger

One viewer - a Mr. Dionne from California... fired off an angry, rambling letter, complaining haughtily that "the most disciplined attention I could give [The Cube] was a belch from the grave of Marcus Aurelius, occasioned, I might add, by the dead weight of its own dust caving in on itself." Two weeks later came Jim's one-sentence response:

Dear Mr. Dionne:
What the fuck are you talking about?
Yours truly,
JIM HENSON — Brian Jay Jones

I don't harp on the negative because if you do, then there's no progression. There's no forward movement. You got to always look on the bright side of things, and we are in control. Like, you have control over the choices you make. — Taraji P. Henson

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered when wished on an evening star? Somebody thought of it and someone believed it, and look what its done so far. — Jim Henson

NBC was trying to convert all of their local programming to color right away to encourage the sale of the sets, so I barely remember working in black and white, although I do know that I did do it, but there was not a major difference, though. — Jim Henson

Adolescence is interesting. I mean, all of life is interesting and all of life is transitionary. But I think there is an exponential growth physically, intellectually, emotionally and there is so much potential. — Bill Henson

I know that it's easier to portray a world that's filled with cynicism and anger, where problems are solved with violence. What's a whole lot tougher is to offer alternatives, to present other ways conflicts can be resolved, and to show that you can have a positive impact on your world. To do that, you have to put yourself out on a limb, take chances, and run the risk of being called a do-gooder. — Jim Henson

I don't ever want to feel complacent. — Taraji P. Henson

I guess I was wrong when I said I never promised anyone. I promised me. — Jim Henson

Action leads to Attention. that in the short-term releases Rewarding brain chemicals and in the long term improves reproductive success. — Keith Henson

Children do not have to learn that streets are dangerous places by potentially fatal trial and error. — Keith Henson

I know I drive some people crazy with what seems like ridiculous optimism, but it has always worked for me. — Jim Henson

Moving right along
In search of good times
And good news,
With good friends you can't lose.
This could become a habit.
Opportunity just knocked,
Let's reach out and grab it,
Together we'll nab it,
We'll hitch-hike, bus, or yellow cab it. — Jim Henson

Singing is something I can do, but it's not my first passion. — Taraji P. Henson

Follow your enthusiasm. It's something I've always believed
in. Find those parts of your life you enjoy the most. Do what
you enjoy doing. — Jim Henson

Cara: *Flies*
Gen: What? I don't have wings!
Cara: Ofcourse not! You're a boy. — Jim Henson

Could people be trained to be less gullible? Or are you as stuck with gullibility as you are with skin colour? — Keith Henson

Jim Henson was the only piece of fan mail I ever wrote when I was a little kid. — Neil Patrick Harris

Something happens to a woman when she can't reproduce. I've not had to walk that path, but I can only imagine when your organs don't work and how that could make you feel. — Taraji P. Henson

Never eat anything at one sitting that you can't lift. — Jim Henson

Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It's a good life, enjoy it. — Jim Henson

We took a show to the Aspen Comedy Festival, called "Puppet Up" at that point, and in Aspen we just did three shows, and in Aspen, there was a producer from the Edinborough Fringe Festival, who said, "Please come to Edinborough." — Brian Henson

I'd say that that is a challenge, but it also is, again, it's helpful. It's helpful to have the discipline of, okay, I'm doing, I'm doing something that's quite precise over here, working the puppet, and I'm doing something that's very imprecise and creative and unleashed over here, which is the comedy side. And it's kind of nice to allow your brain to be doing those two things at once. — Brian Henson

The first show that my dad and my mom did together was for, was a comedy series, a short form that went in the middle of late-night news, and then through all of their career, it was always the "Ed Sullivan Show," it was a variety act, my dad was on the "Jimmy Dean Show" for a few years. — Brian Henson

You're assisting the audience to understand; you're giving them a bridge or an access. And if you don't give them that, if you keep it more abstract, it's almost more pure. It's a cooler thing. — Jim Henson

At that point, I thought probably special effects, something like that, and indeed, the early days when I was working with my dad, after I left school, I only went to less than one year of college, and then I was transferring, and then I delayed my transfer, and I did a movie, and then another movie, and then I never finished college. — Brian Henson

Players get a window of opportunity. Quarterbacks, specifically, usually get one. — Drew Henson

With TV, the pace is so fast, the scripts are coming at you, the directors are firing things at you, it's breathtaking. — Taraji P. Henson

I know that I personally have felt quite happy because I've done what I wanted to do. I pursued my interests and have thus managed to combine my business with lots of fun. I guess my only advice is to do what you enjoy, and try to do your best with it. — Jim Henson

I believe that we form our own lives, that we create our own reality, and that everything works out for the best. — Jim Henson

There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met. — Jim Henson

I'm always the cousin that can't make it to the family functions because I'm busy. — Taraji P. Henson

You never want me in a position to have to think. That's bad. — Elden Henson

Where does a character come from? Because a character, at the end of the day, a character will be the combination of the writing of the character, the voicing of the character, the personality of the character, and what the character looks like. — Brian Henson

If you care about what you do and work hard at it, there isn't anything you can't do if you want to. — Jim Henson

"Sesame Street" was really the first kid's show that my dad did. He did a couple of TV specials that were targeted for kids before "Sesame Street," but really, it was, it's kind of going back to our roots, when we start to get adult. This show gets very adult sometimes, and that's because of the audience. — Brian Henson

Date a woman with children only if you are ready to man up, because it's a position that comes with responsibility. — Taraji P. Henson

Cults, or related social movements such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, result in massive military expenses. — Keith Henson

I'm constantly proving myself. I have to always prove myself. There are roles where I feel like, "That should have been a straight offer. Why am I having to call my people and fight for it?" — Taraji P. Henson

[Kids] don't remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are. — Jim Henson

GHOSTBUSTERS I always wanted the reboot of Ghostbusters to be four girl-ghostbusters. Like, four normal, plucky women living in New York City searching for Mr. Right and trying to find jobs - but who also bust ghosts. I'm not an idiot, though. I know the demographic for Ghostbusters is teenage boys, and I know they would kill themselves if two ghostbusters had a makeover at Sephora. I just have always wanted to see a cool girl having her first kiss with a guy she's had a crush on, and then have to excuse herself to go trap the pissed-off ghosts of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire or something. In my imagination, I am, of course, one of the ghostbusters, with the likes of say, Emily Blunt, Taraji Henson, and Natalie Portman. Even if I'm not the ringleader, I'm definitely the one who gets to say "I ain't afraid a no ghost." At least the first time. — Mindy Kaling

Fighting hard to protect yourself and your relatives is good for your genes, but when captured and escape is not possible, giving up short of dying and making the best you can of the new situation is also good for your genes. — Keith Henson

But if everybody's trying to stay safe, then you never really create something new and different and surprising. — Brian Henson

Do the jobs you like least first. It makes each successive job easier. — Jim Henson

Jim Henson was an absolute genius. — Marcus Brigstocke