Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (American Children’s Books Writer)

Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904–91,) better known as Dr. Seuss, was an American writer and illustrator. He is celebrated for bringing a whimsical touch and a colorful imagination to the world of children’s books.

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Geisel attended Dartmouth College but later dropped out of Oxford University’s Lincoln College. After returning to America, he worked as a freelance cartoonist for magazines and advertising agencies, and as a Hollywood writer and animator.

Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book was And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street (1937,) which features a small boy who makes up a tall story about what he sees on the way home from school.

In 1957, Seuss began to write and draw a sequence of “Beginner Books” starting with The Cat in the Hat (1957.) This series used a simple vocabulary purposely to help teach reading—The Cat in the Hat uses just 220 different words and is 1702 words long. It was an extraordinarily critical and commercial success and made Dr. Seuss a household name. Within a year of publication, The Cat in the Hat was selling 12,000 copies a month; within five years, it had sold a million copies.

Dr. Seuss’s other popular children’s books include Horton Hatches the Egg (1940,) Green Eggs and Ham (1960,) and Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1990.) His books feature a playful way with political or social issues—consumerism, environmentalism, racism, etc. For adults, Dr. Seuss wrote You’re Only Old Once! (1986.)

Some of Dr. Seuss’s books were made into such popular movies as How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) and The Cat in the Hat (2003.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

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. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Choice, Confidence, Graduation

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Imagination, Thinking

Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

They say I’m old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

Oh, the things you can find if you don’t stay behind!
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

If you keep your eyes open enough, oh the stuff you will learn. Oh the most wonderful stuff.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

If you’d never been born, then you might be an Isn’t! An Isn’t has no fun at all. No, he disn’t.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Individuality

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Simplicity, Questions

Why fit in when you were born to stand out?
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Individuality

Look at me! Look at me! Look at me NOW! It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Fun

It’s a troublesome world. All the people who’re 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.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Challenges

Words and pictures are yin and yang. Married, they produce a progeny more interesting than either parent.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Balance

You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Individuality

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly it’s true that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Challenges

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Fun

There’s no limit to how much you’ll know, depending how far beyond zebra you go.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

Adults are obsolete children.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Children, Inner-child

Now … thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground, there’s not enough Truffula Fruit to go ’round.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

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!
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Problems, Adversity, Challenges

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Being True to Yourself

You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Helping, Service, Wilderness, Doing Your Best

It’s opener, out there, in the wide, open air.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

All alone! Whether you like it or not, alone is something you’ll be quite a lot.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Loneliness, Solitude

If things start happening, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along and you’ll start happening too.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Carpe-diem

I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)

If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Fun

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