In the pantheon of the
profound—Churchill and FDR, Shakespeare and Twain, even Will Rogers and Woody
Allen (if you prefer mirth while musing), we at the Why Not 100 think Dr. Seuss
belongs. Really. He did it through allegory and whimsy, substituting edifying
imagination for speechifying exhortations, replacing rim-shot one-liners with
Once-lers and wonders. Indeed, many of his most famous passages are designed
just as much to enlighten as to entertain.
Most of them are life-affirming
perspectives—every person counts and should try new things and can save the world
one speck or tree at a time. They’re the kind of reminders that lodge firmly in
a child’s psyche—brain-remainers, he might call them. Sometimes, too, Seuss
tossed in some gentle barbs, kindly poking fun at the excesses of authority or
income disparity or the diffusion of responsibility. And once in a while, he
just comments on love or imagination or gratitude or
aging.
We’ve chosen our 37 favorites:
1. “You
have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.” (Oh, The
Places You’ll Go!)
2. “Don’t give up! I believe in you all. A person’s a person, no matter how
small!” (Horton Hears a Who)
3. “In the places I go there are things that I see that I never could spell
if I stopped with a Z. I’m telling you this ‘cause you’re one of my friends. My
alphabet starts where your alphabet ends.” (On
Beyond Zebra)
4. “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get
better. It’s not.” (The Lorax)
5. “You do not like them. So you say.
Try them! Try them! And you may.” (Green
Eggs and Ham)
6. “You’re in pretty good shape for the shape that you’re in.” (You’re Only Old Once)
7. “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. And I’m asking
you, sir, at the top of my lungs…” (The
Lorax)
8. “It was exactly the same view that King Derwin saw from his balcony, but
Bartholomew saw it backwards. It was a mighty view, but it made Bartholomew
Cubbins feel mighty small.” (The 500 Hats
of Bartholomew Cubbins)
9. “’I’m ruler’,
said Yertle, ‘of all that I see. But I don’t see enough. That’s the trouble
with me. With this stone for a throne, I look down on my pond,
but I cannot look down on the places beyond.” (Yertle the Turtle)
10. “A Wasn’t has no fun at all. No, he doesn’t. A Wasn’t just isn’t. He just
isn’t present. But you… You ARE YOU! And now isn’t that pleasant.” (Happy Birthday to You)
11. “But
McBean was quite wrong. I'm quite happy
to say that the Sneetches got really quite smart on that day. The day they
decided that Sneetches are Sneetches, and no kind of Sneetch is the best on the
beaches.” (The Sneetches)
12. “It could be
that his head wasn't screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, that his
shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all may have
been that his heart was two sizes too small.” (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
13. “Marco, keep your eyelids up. And see what you can see.” (And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry
Street)
14. You outghta be
thankful. A whole heaping lot. For all the people and places you’re lucky
you’re not!” (Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky
You Are?)
15. “Then the door
opened wide. And the Mayor stepped inside. At meetings and greetings there was
none to compare. He was best at long speeches, chock-full of hot air!” (Daisy-Head Mayzie)
16. “And today the
great Yertle, that Marvelous he, is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course… all the turtles are free as turtles and, maybe, all
creatures should be.” (Yertle the Turtle)
17. “Then the Grinch
thought of something he hadn't before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought,
"doesn't come from a store. “Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little
bit more!" (How the Grinch Stole
Christmas)
18. “The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you
learn, the more places you’ll go.” (I Can
Read With My Eyes Shut)
19. “My father can read big words,
too. Like CONSTANTINOPLE and TIMBUKTU.” (Hop
on Pop)
20. “So all we could do was to Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! And we did not like it.
Not one little bit.” (The Cat in the Hat)
21. “And I learned there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from
ahead and some come from behind.” (I Had
Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew)
22. “We’ve GOT to make noises in
greater amounts! So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!” (Horton Hears a Who)
23. “I’m afraid that
sometimes you’ll play lonely games
too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.” (Oh, The Places You’ll Go!)
24. “And he called to the pests on his
horns as he threw ‘em. You wanted my horns, well you’re quite welcome to ‘em.”
(Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose)
25. “And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right
along. You’ll start happening too.” (Oh, The Places You’ll Go!)
26. “I'm Finagle the Agent. You've
heard of me, I'm sure. I represent young what's-his-name, and others, now on
tour.” (Daisy-Head Mayzie)
27. “I know it is wet. And the sun is not sunny. But we can have fun. Lots of
good fun that is funny!” (The Cat in the
Hat)
28. “My trouble was I had a mind. But I couldn’t make it up.” (Hunches in Bunches)
29. “Now the Principal, good Mr. Gregory Grumm,
was a very nice man, just as smart as they come. He knew more than anyone else
in this nation. About long division and multiplication.” (Daisy-Head Mayzie)
30. “Stop
telling such outlandish tales. Stop turning minnows into whales.” (And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry
Street)
31. “Should we tell her about it? Now, what SHOULD we do? Well… What would
you do if your mother asked YOU?” (The
Cat in the Hat)
32. “Business is business. And business must grow, regardless of crummies in
tummies, you know.” (The Lorax)
33. “And since that day in Katzen-stein all cats have been more grown-up.
They’re all more demo-catic because each cat holds his own up.” (King Looie Katz)
34. “Think left and think right. Think low and think high. Oh the THINKS you
can think up if only you try.” (Oh, The
Thinks You Can Think)
35. “But neither Bartholomew
Cubbins, nor King Derwin himself, nor anyone else in the Kingdom of Didd could
ever explain how the strange thing had happened. They only could say it just
“happened to happen” and was not very likely to happen again.” (The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins)
36. “Well, you know about daisies. When love is
in doubt, the job of a daisy is, Try and Find Out!” (Daisy-Head Mayzie)
37. “And will you
succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.). KID, YOU’LL
MOVE MOUNTAINS!” (Oh, The Places
You’ll Go!)
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