Top 70 Jim Henson Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “If you can’t beat them, join them.”

— Jim Henson

2. “Watch out for each other. Love everyone and forgive everyone, including yourself. Forgive your anger. Forgive your guilt. Your shame. Your sadness. Embrace and open up your love, your joy, your truth, and most especially your heart.”

— Jim Henson

Featured in: Acceptance Quotes, Human Nature Quotes, Compassion Quotes, Forgiveness Quotes, Anger Quotes

3. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.”

— Jim Henson

4. “There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met.”

— Jim Henson

5. “The only way the magic works is by hard work. But hard work can be fun.”

— Jim Henson

Featured in: Fun Quotes

6. “My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here.”

— Jim Henson

7. “Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me!”

— Jim Henson

Featured in: Strong Quotes

8. “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

Featured in: Monday Quotes

9. “Life’s like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.”

— Jim Henson

10. “Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It’s a good life, enjoy it.”

— Jim Henson

11. “Life is meant to be fun, and joyous, and fulfilling.”

— Jim Henson

Featured in: Fun Quotes

12. “The attitude you have as a parent is what your kids will learn from more than what you tell them. They don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.”

— Jim Henson

Featured in: Moving Forward Quotes

13. “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

14. “The most sophisticated people I know – inside they are all children.”

— Jim Henson

15. “Do everything at 100 percent of its potential and never accept second best.”

— Jim Henson

16. “I know I drive some people crazy with what seems like ridiculous optimism, but it has always worked for me.”

— Jim Henson

17. “When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there.”

— Jim Henson

Featured in: Ambition Quotes

18. “It’s a wonderful life and I love it.”

— Jim Henson

19. “I’ve always tried to present a positive view of the world in my work. It’s so much easier to be negative and cynical and predict doom for the world than it is to try and figure out how to make things better. We have an obligation to do the latter.”

— Jim Henson

20. “Only time can heal your broken heart. Just as only time can heal his broken arms and legs.”

— Jim Henson

21. “No time is wasted time.”

— Jim Henson

22. “Television is basically teaching whether you want it to or not.”

— Jim Henson

23. “Do the jobs you like least first. It makes each successive job easier.”

— Jim Henson

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

24. “Take what you got and fly with it.”

— Jim Henson

25. “The beauty of nature has been one of the great inspirations in my life.”

— Jim Henson

26. “All of a sudden you realise that you are the person who has control of your life.”

— Jim Henson

27. “I hope that something better comes along.”

— Jim Henson

28. “Someday we’ll find it the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me.”

— Jim Henson

29. “Watch out for the icy patch.”

— Jim Henson

30. “But with The Dark Crystal, instead of puppetry we’re trying to go toward a sense of realism – toward a reality of creatures that are actually alive and we’re mixing up puppetry and all kinds of other techniques.”

— Jim Henson

31. “When I was a kid, I never saw a puppet show. I never played with puppets or had any interest in them.”

— Jim Henson

32. “If our ‘message’ is anything, it’s a positive approach to life. That life is basically good. People are basically good.”

— Jim Henson

33. “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

34. “Never eat anything at one sitting that you can’t lift.”

— Jim Henson

35. “Here’s some simple advice: Always be yourself. Never take yourself to seriously. And beware of advice from experts, pigs, and members of Parliament.”

— Jim Henson

36. “Music is an essential part of everything we do. Like puppetry, music has an abstract quality which speaks to a worldwide audience in a wonderful way that nourishes the soul.”

— Jim Henson

37. “It all ends in one of two ways: either someone gets eaten or something blows up.”

— Jim Henson

38. “I guess I was wrong when I said I never promised anyone. I promised me.”

— Jim Henson

39. “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

40. “I believe that life is basically a process of growth-that we go through many lives, choosing those situations and problems that we will learn through.”

— Jim Henson

41. “I believe that we form our own lives, that we create our own reality, and that everything works out for the best.”

— Jim Henson

42. “Certainly I’ve lived my whole life through my imagination. But the world of imagination is there for all of us – a sense of play, of pretending, of wonder. It’s there with us as we live.”

— Jim Henson

43. “I try hard not to judge anyone, and I try to bless everyone who is a part of my life, particularly anyone with whom I am having any problems.”

— Jim Henson

44. “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

45. “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

46. “At the University of Maryland, my first year I started off planning to major in art because I was interested in theatre design, stage design or television design.”

— Jim Henson

47. “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

48. “It has always been difficult to get Big Bird to be very pretty. Big Bird in England is much more gorgeous.”

— Jim Henson

49. “A film is not done by one person. It’s done by a lot of people. I love this whole collaborative aspect. When it works well, you end up with something better than any of us started out to do.”

— Jim Henson

50. “Yeah, we pretty much had a form and a shape by that time – a style – and I think one of the advantages of not having any relationship to any other puppeteer was that it gave me a reason to put those together myself for the needs of television.”

— Jim Henson