Calvin & Hobbes
Arguably one of the best comics I’ve read is Calvin & Hobbes. While not only entertaining, this comic is filled with wise adage and philosophical ideas, which had been expected of the creator, Bill Watterson. Reading through it not only livens up my days with it’s dry humor but sometimes makes me ponder on the various ideas that the Watterson is trying to put forward.
Calvin is a six-year old kid that talks like he’s thirty. I’ve identified that Calvin’s behavior is due to his dad’s parenting skills. Calvin’s parents have no names. Calvin’s mom stays home and has to put up with him all day. His dad is a patent attourney and loves to bike. Both are very sarcastic. Now here is a mould of my kid and what kind of father I would want to be if I ever start a family and have children :P.
Calvin is named for 16th-century theologian John Calvin, Hobbes is named after 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes. According to Watterson, the two names are intended as a joke for people studying political science. Thomas Hobbes’s most famous phrase, from Leviathan, is that human life in the state of nature is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”—a description that can be applied to Calvin in the comic strip.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Calvin & Hobbes.
I’m learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life…Procrastinating and rationalizing.
Everybody seeks happiness! Not me, though! That’s the difference between me and the rest of the world.Happiness isn’t good enough for me! I demand euphoria!
I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone’s expectations.
To make a bad day worse, spend it wishing for the impossible.
They only recognize greatness when some authority confirms it.
Life’s disappointments are harder to take when you don’t know any swear words.
Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around.
Existence is not only temporary, it’s pointless!
