Dr. Seuss Quotations

Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.

Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.

A person's a person, no matter how small.

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go.

How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?

I've heard there are troubles of more than one kind; some come from ahead, and some come from behind. But I've brought a big bat. I'm all ready, you see; now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.

Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.

Preachers in pulpits talked about what a great message is in the book. No matter what you do, somebody always imputes meaning into your books.

When at last we are sure, You've been properly pilled, Then a few paper forms, Must be properly filled. So that you and your heirs, May be properly billed.

Sometimes, when I see my granddaughters make small discoveries of their own, I wish I were a child.

Every once in a while, I get mad. 'The Lorax' came out of my being angry. The ecology books I'd read were dull... In 'The Lorax,' I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

I start drawing, and eventually the characters involve themselves in a situation. Then in the end, I go back and try to cut out most of the preachments.

The problem with writing a book in verse is, to be successful, it has to sound like you knocked it off on a rainy Friday afternoon. It has to sound easy. When you can do it, it helps tremendously because it's a thing that forces kids to read on. You have this unconsummated feeling if you stop.

Whenever things go a bit sour in a job I'm doing, I always tell myself, 'You can do better than this.'

You're in pretty good shape for the shape you are in.

The main problem with writing in verse is, if your fourth line doesn't come out right, you've got to throw four lines away and figure out a whole new way to attack the problem. So the mortality rate is terrific.

'The Lorax' book was intended to be propaganda.

I stay out of politics because if I begin thinking too much about politics, I'll probably... drop writing children's books and become a political cartoonist again.

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

Hollywood is not suited for me, and I am not suited for it.

I was saving the name of 'Geisel' for the Great American Novel.

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.

My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It's the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond 'Z' and start poking around!

Now... thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground, there's not enough Truffula Fruit to go 'round.

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!

I am a zizzer zazzer zuzz as you can plainly see.

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.

Just tell yourself, Duckie, you're really quite lucky!

What it really said to me is how hard the people at our school work, ... All of our employees who work here are working hard to do what's right for our kids.

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

You have to be odd to be number one.

A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses. To the world, you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.

If you don't like me, remember it's mind over matter. I don't mind, and you don't matter.

Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It's more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!

When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.

Why fit in when you were born to stand out?

If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it'd be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

Read. Travel. Read. Ask. Read. Learn. Read. Connect. Read.

Sometimes you will never know the value of something,until it becomes a memory.

They say I'm old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!

Life's just one great journey. It's a road we travel as we go from point A to point B. What makes that journey worthwhile is the people we choose to travel with, the people we hold close as we take steps into the darkness and blindly make our way through life. They're the people who matter.

It is better to know how to learn than to know.

Oh the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.

People are weird. When we find someone with weirdness that is compatible with ours, we team up and call it love.

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!

ASAP. Whatever that means. It must mean, 'Act swiftly awesome pacyderm!

Don't grumble! Don't stew! Some critters are much-much, Oh, ever so much-much So muchly much-much more unlucky than you!

How did it get so late so soon?

You ought to be thankful a hole heaping lot, for The places and people you're lucky you're not!

I am weird, you are weird. Everyone in this world is weird. One day two people come together in mutual weirdness and fall in love.

Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry.

I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.

Whats the point of fitting in, when we were meant to stand out?

It's not about what it is, it's about what it can become.

It's a troublesome world. All the people who are in it are troubled with troubles almost every minute. You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you're lucky you're not.

Cause when a guy does something stupid once, well that’s because he’s a guy. But if he does the same stupid thing twice, that’s usually to impress some girl.

One fish. Two fish. Red fish. Blue fish. Black fish. Blue fish. Old fish. New fish. This one has a little star. This one has a little car. Say! What a lot of fish there are.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.

Adults are only obsolete children.

Writing simply means no dependent clauses, no dangling things, no flashbacks, and keeping the subject near the predicate. We throw in as many fresh words we can get away with. Simple, short sentences don't always work. You have to do tricks with pacing, alternate long sentences with short, to keep it vital and alive.... Virtually every page is a cliffhanger--you've got to force them to turn it."~

You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.

In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!

When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles and the bottle's on a poodle and the poodle's eating noodles... ...they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle.

Children want the same things we want. To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted.

You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...

I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.

I know I am in love because I am finding it difficult to fall asleep nowadays. This is because after having you around me now I find that reality is better than dreams.

I meant no harm I most truly did not, but I had to grow bigger so bigger I got. I biggered my factory, I biggered my roads, I biggered the wagons, I biggered the loads, of the Thneeds I shipped out I was shipping them forth from the South, to the East, to the West. To the North, I went right on biggering selling more thneeds. And I biggered my money which everyone needs.

Everything stinks till it’s finished.

I still climb Mount Everest just as often as I used to. I play polo just as often as I used to. But to walk down to the hardware store I find a little bit more difficult

Nothing is going to change, unless someone does something soon

And this mess is so big And so deep and so tall, We cannot pick it up. There is no way at all!

All alone! Whether you like it or not, alone is something you'll be quite a lot!

Sometimes a complicated question has a simple answer.

Don't give up! I believe in you all. A person's a person, no matter how small! And you very small persons will not have to die If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!

And the turtles, of course...all the turtles are free, as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.

My trouble was I had a mind but I couldn't make it up!

The moon was out and I saw some sheep. I saw some sheep take a walk in their sleep. By the light of the moon, by the light of a star, They walked all night from near to far. I would never walk, I would take a car.

We've taught you that the earth is round, That red and white make pink, And something else that matters more - We've taught you how to think.

You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.

Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. Oh! The places you'll go!

It's opener, out there, in the wide, open air.

When he worked, he really worked. But when he played, he really PLAYED.

The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day.

Did you ever fly a kite in bed? Did you ever walk with ten cats on your head? Did you ever milk this kind of cow? Well, we can do it. We know how. If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.

Step with care and great tact. And remember life's a great balancing act.

If I were invited to a dinner party with my characters, I wouldn't show up.