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.)
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Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more …
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Christmas
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Life
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: Thinking, Imagination
Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Baseball
You know you’re in love when you don’t want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Love, Reality
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
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… and that enables you to laugh at all of life’s realities.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Imagination, Fantasy
Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Only you can control your future.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
I’m glad we had the times together just to laugh and sing a song, seems like we just got started and then before you know it, the times we had together were gone.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Questions, Simplicity
Adults are obsolete children.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’)
Topics: Inner-child, Children
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: Confidence, Choice
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