One hundred and eleven years ago today, Dr. Seuss (or, Theodor Seuss Geisel) was born. Author and illustrator of 46 children’s books, Dr. Seuss is one of the most well-known and beloved authors of all time, with his work having been adapted into 11 TV specials, four feature films, a Broadway musical, four television series and a theme park over the years.
Prolific and adored, he won the Pulitzer Prize, a Peabody and an Academy Award (for a documentary!), and his works have been translated into more than 20 languages with sales of over 600 millions copies worldwide.
For the last 18 years, Dr. Seuss’s birthday has been the occasion for the annual “Read Across America Day,” an event sponsored by the National Education Association in partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Millions of students traditionally participate as their schools host Seuss readings in what is billed by the NEA as the “nation’s largest reading observance.”
Few famous quotes for Dr. Seuss
- “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
- “Why fit in when you’re born to stand out?”
- “You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.”
- “Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting. So … get on your way.”
- “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
- “If things start happening, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along and you’ll start happening too.”
- “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
- “It is better to know how to learn than to know.”
- “Be who you are and say what you mean. Because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
- “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
- “You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go.”
- “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.”Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
- “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”
- “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
