Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Robert Fulghum, fully Robert Lee Fulghum

American Author primarily of short essays

"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge; that myth is more potent than history. I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts; that hope always triumphs over experience; that laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe love is stronger than death."

"Doing a straight-forward, clear-cut task that has a beginning and an end balances out the complexity-without-end that often vexes the rest of my life. Sacred simplicity."

"Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away."

"Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts."

"These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten): 1. Share everything. 2. Play fair. 3. Don't hit people. 4. Put thngs back where you found them. 5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS. 6. Don't take things that aren't yours. 7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody. 8. Wash your hands before you eat. 9. Flush. 10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. 11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some. 12. Take a nap every afternoon. 13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. 14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Stryrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. 15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we. 16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first workd you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK."

"A six-year-old will not understand that "By and large it has been demonstrated that violence is counterproductive to the constructive interaction of persons and societies. "True. But a child can better understand that the rule out in the world and in the school is the same: Don't hit people. Bad things happen. The child must understand this rule is connected to the first rule: People won't share or play fair if you hit them."

"1. Children are not pets. 2. The life they actually live and the life you perceive them to be living is not the same life. 3. Don?t take what your children do too personally. 4. Don?t keep score cards on them ? a short memory is useful. 5. Dirt and mess are a breeding ground for well-being. 6. Stay out of their rooms after puberty. 7. Stay out of their friendships and love-life unless invited in. 8. Don?t worry that they never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. 9. Learn from them; they have much to teach you. 10. Love them long; let them go early. Finally. You will never really know what kind of parent you were or if you did it right or wrong. Never. And you will worry about this and them as long as you live. But when your children have children and you watch them do what they do, you will have part of an answer."

"About winning and losing: It isn't important, what really counts is how you play the game. About playing the game: PLAY TO WIN!"

"Alice's robes were seasonal. She hadn't exactly planned it that way, but that's how it evolved. In winter there was a long, warm, deep purple terry-cloth robe. In spring she changed to a new blue-and-white cotton kimono. In summer there was a white chenille bathrobe with a pattern on it, and in the fall she wore a cotton robe her husband had bought her as a surprise gift. They were useful, practical garments, but when she thought about it, she realized she wore them as much for the feelings and memories they evoked as much as their physical comfort. When I told her I thought her robes had become like temple garments, she smiled, Yes."

"Above all, if what you've done is stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid."

"All of my books have had considerable success in the Czech Republic. I usually add that it must be that my editor and translator are much better writers than I am, but I?ll never really know because I don?t speak Czech."

"All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned. These are the things you already know: Share everything. Play Fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody."

"All of these are names given me by other people, but not names I would have given myself. My name is not mine, it's theirs. It's a series of costumes put on my life by other people."

"All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned--the biggest word of all--look."

"All I really need to know ... I learned in kindergarten."

"Always trust your fellow man. And always cut the cards. Always trust God. And always build your house on high ground. Always love thy neighbor. And always pick a good neighborhood to live in."

"And sure, I know if you eat this way you'll die. So? If you don't eat this way you're still going to die. Why not die happy?"

"Any fool can make enough money to survive. It's another thing to keep yourself consistently entertained. It's a lot of work, and a lot of fun, to make a life."

"Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well."

"Arguing whether or not a God exists is like fleas arguing whether or not the dog exists. Arguing over the correct name for God is like fleas arguing over the name of the dog. And arguing over whose notion of God is correct is like fleas arguing over who owns the dog."

"As one old gentleman put it, Son, I don't care if you're stark nekkid and wear a bone in your nose. If you kin fiddle, you're all right with me. It's the music we make that counts."

"And good neighbors make a huge difference in the quality of life. I agree."

"And I believe I may invest my life with meaning."

"An artist?s job is to see. And to go out in the world and see it firsthand, just as it is; to report with line and words what is seen. To be in the world, not just study about the world, that is the artists task"

"And I?m not confused about the lack of, or the need for, imagination in low or high places. We could do better we must do better. There are far worse things to drop on people than crayolas."

"And it is still true, no matter how old you are -- when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together."

"Better than hide-and-seek, I like the game called Sardines. In Sardines the person who is IT goes and hides, and everybody goes looking for him. When you find him, you get in with him and hide there with him. Pretty soon everybody is hiding together, all stacked in a small space like puppies in a pile. And pretty soon somebody giggles and somebody laughs and everybody gets found."

"Does the giraffe know what he's for? Or care? Or even think about his place in things? A giraffe has a black tongue twenty-seven inches long and no vocal cords. A giraffe has nothing to say. He just goes on giraffing."

"Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some."

"But it does no good--solves nothing--to distance myself from the front lines of human need by using the mail as a safe shelter. I believe that serving the best ends of humanity means getting out in the middle of it just as it is, not staying home writing checks and thinking hopeful thoughts. The world does not need tourists who ride by in a bus clucking their tongues. The world as it is needs those who will love it enough to change it, with what they have, where they are. And you're damned right that's idealistic. No apology. When idealism goes into the trash as junk mail, we're finished."

"Children are sent to school to be civilized, to learn to be part of the social enterprise."

"Don't Believe Everything You Think!"

"Be aware of wonder. And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned ? the biggest word of all ? LOOK."

"But love may have to be left off the exam. Most of us will never learn."

"Clean up your own mess."

"Dirt and mess are a breeding ground for well-being."

"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."

"Don't sell yourself short. You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think."

"Every person passing through this life will unknowingly leave something and take something away. Most of this "something" cannot be seen or heard or numbered or scientifically detected or counted. It's what we leave in the minds of other people and what they leave in ours. Memory. The census doesn't count it. Nothing counts without it."

"Even if your watch is full of diamonds the hour is still sixty minutes."

"Everyone has doors in the living room of their lives that they assume are locked. Doors that lead to artistic expression. People say ?I have no talent ? I can?t dance or sing or paint or write poetry or play an instrument.? More often than not the doors are not locked, just closed. One may turn the handle, open the door and pass through into a larger life space."

"For all my good intentions, there are days when things go wrong or I fall into old habits. When things are not going well, when I'm grumpy or mad, I'll realize that I've not been paying attention to my soul and I've not been following my best routine."

"From the first day we are told in words we can handle what has come to be prized as the foundation of community and culture. Though the teacher may call these first lessons simple rules, they are in fact the distillation of all the hard-won, field-tested working standards of the human enterprise."

"Everything I need to know... I learned in kindergarten."

"Hide-and-seek, grown-up style. Wanting to hide. Needing to be sought. Confused about being found."

"I am sometimes amazed at what we did not fully grasp in kindergarten. In the years I was a parish minister I was always taken aback when someone came to me and said. 'I've just come from the doctor and he told me I have only a limited time to live'. I was always tempted to shout 'WHAT? You didn't know? You had to pay a doctor to tell you - at your age? Where were you the week in kingergarten when you got the little cup with the cotton and water and seed? Life happened - remember? A plant grew up and the roots grew down. A miracle. And then a few days later the plant was dead. DEAD. Life is short. Were you asleep that week or home sick or what?"

"How will you know someone really loves if they only meet your expectations and not your needs."

"I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have - I can reflect light into the dark places of this world - into the black places in the hearts of men - and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."

"Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we."

"I and you ? we are infinite, rich, large, contradictory, living, breathing miracles ? free human beings, children of God and the everlasting universe. That's what we do."