“All parents believe their children can do the impossible. They thought it the minute we were born, and no matter how hard we've tried to prove them wrong, they all think it about us now. And the really annoying thing is, they're probably right.”

“Animal welfare issues have always been important to me.”

“Because the majority of my readers are women, I feel that one public service I can provide to them is to spread the message of regular mammograms and early detection within the strip.”

“Cartooning is a wonderful career, and I'd like more women to get to have it. I can't think of any reason why we won't see more syndicated female cartoonists in the future.”

“Cathy was the first widely syndicated humor strip created by a woman. The strip was pretty revolutionary at the time not only because it starred a female, but also because it was so emotionally honest about all the conflicting feelings many women had in 1976.”

“Defy your own group. Rebel against yourself.”

“Every time I get something under control in my own life, the world provides more material.”

“Food, love, career, and mothers, the four major guilt groups.”

“I had such a close relationship with my dog, and my dog so filled the need in my life to have children that I just wanted Cathy to have that experience.”

“I have an office in my house and one about five minutes from my house. I worked solely out of my house for many years, but find, with children, that I have to be in a different ZIP code to think.”

“I never thought Cathy would get married in the comic strip. And I also thought I would never get married.”

“I wanted Cathy and Irving to actually say 'I do' and be pronounced husband and wife on Feb. 5, which is my mom's birthday.”

“I'd love to see more equal representation of female and male cartoonists on the comics page.”

“I'm lucky that my real-life Mom has both a great sense of humor about herself and an amazing ability to slip into complete denial if the subject matter gets a little too close to home.”

“I'm married, which means that instead of occasionally wondering about men from afar, I actually live with one and can be constantly astounded by the strange male brain.”

“I'm more financially successful, but it just means the shopping blunders I make are bigger now.”

“Imagine my surprise when, after a lifetime of teaching me to keep personal things to myself, Mom insisted my drawings were the start of a comic strip for millions of people to enjoy.”

“In 1976 I wrote a lot about women trying to claim the right to work.”

“Mothers send strips to daughters to make a point. Daughters smack strips down on the breakfast table to make a point. My own mom sometimes cuts a strip out and sends it to me to make sure I understand her.”

“My dog was with me all the time. I talked to my dog. She was my best buddy. I shared all my secrets with her, but I don't think I every really tried jokes out with the dog.”

“My mother had always taught me to write about my feelings instead of sharing really personal things with others, so I spent many evenings writing in my diary, eating everything in the kitchen and waiting for Mr. Wrong to call.”

“Otherwise, my whole career has just been flinging myself at whatever is most overdue first and letting everything else stack up.”

“The biggest change in my life is that I now have to apologize for being thin.”

“The relationship between Cathy and Mom in the strip is the one relationship drawn from real life that I have proudly never even tried to disguise.”

“The specific story line that people have responded to the most has been the horror of bathing suit shopping.”

“The specifics of Cathy's and my life are different now, but the basic life challenges are exactly the same.”