Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American author, political cartoonist, poet, animator, book publisher, and artist, best known for authoring children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss . His work includes several of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.
Geisel adopted his "Dr. Seuss" pen name during his university studies at Dartmouth College and the University of Oxford. He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair, Life, and various other publications. He also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM. He published his first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the United States Army where he produced several short films, including Design for Death, which later won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
After the war, Geisel focused on children's books, writing classics such as If I Ran the Zoo , Horton Hears a Who! , If I Ran the Circus , The Cat in the Hat , How the Grinch Stole Christmas! , and Green Eggs and Ham . He published over 60 books during his career, which have spawned numerous adaptations, including 11 television specials, four feature films, a Broadway musical, and four television series. He won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 for Horton Hatches the Egg and again in 1961 for And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Geisel's birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association.
“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”
Often attributed to Dr. Seuss without citation; also cited as an anonymous proverb.
This quote has also been attributed to Gabriel García Márquez, in Spanish: "No llores porque ya se terminó, sonríe porque sucedió."
Compare lines from In Memoriam A.H.H. of Tennyson:
  'Tis better to have loved and lost
  Than never to have loved at all.
Disputed
Variant: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
Georges Duhamel in THE HEART'S DOMAIN (1919). As it was composed in French, the wording in English may vary in translation. Theodore Geisel / Dr. Seuss was born in 1904, and would have been about 15 years old at the time that it was published. The full text can be found at the link below: We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory. Like the images the photographer plunges into a golden bath, our sentiments take on color; and only then, after that recoil and that trans-figuration, do we understand their real meaning and enjoy them in all their tranquil splendor.
Misattributed
Variant: You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
Dr. Seuss book Happy Birthday to You!
Variant: There is no one alive who
is Youer than You!
Source: Happy Birthday to You!
“you'll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut”
Source: I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! (1978)
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting!”
Variant: Today is your day, your mountain is waiting. So get on your way.
“All alone! Whether you like it or not, alone is something you'll be quite a lot!”
Source: Oh, the Places You'll Go! and The Lorax
Dr. Seuss book Fox in Socks
Horton Hears a Who! (1954)
Source: Fox in Socks
“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
Variant: Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
“A person's a person, no matter how small.”
Source: Horton Hears a Who! (1954)
“Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.”
Bernard Baruch in response to a question by Igor Cassini as to how he handled the seating arrangements at his dinner parties, as quoted in Shake Well Before Using: A New Collection of Impressions and Anecdotes Mostly Humorous (1948) by Bennett Cerf, p. 249; the full response was "I never bother about that. Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter." This anecdote is also quoted online at Chiasmus.com http://www.chiasmus.com/archive/msg00241.html. It has also become part of a larger expression, which has been commonly attributed to Dr. Seuss, even in print, but without citation of a specific work: "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! (1978)
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”
Variant: I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
“It's not about what it is, it's about what it can become.”
Variant: It doesn't matter what it is. What matters is what it will become.
Source: The Lorax
“Things may happen and often do to people as brainy and footsy as you”
Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!
Dr. Seuss book Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
Source: Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
“And this mess is so big
And so deep and so tall,
We cannot pick it up.
There is no way at all!”
Dr. Seuss book The Cat in the Hat
Source: The Cat in the Hat
As quoted in "Author Isn't Just a Cat in the Hat" by Miles Corwin in The Los Angeles Times (27 November 1983); also in Dr. Seuss: American Icon (2004) by Philip Nel, p. 38
Context: Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It's more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.
“In the places I go there are things that I see
That I never could spell if I stopped with the Z.”
Dr. Seuss book On Beyond Zebra!
On Beyond Zebra! (1955)
Context: In the places I go there are things that I see
That I never could spell if I stopped with the Z.
I'm telling you this 'cause you're one of my friends.
My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends!
“I meant what I said and I said what I meant.”
Dr. Seuss book Horton Hatches the Egg
Source: Horton Hatches the Egg
“Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind maker-upper to make up his mind”
Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!
“Oh the thinks you can think up if only you try!”
Dr. Seuss book Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!
Variant: Oh, the thinks you can think!
Source: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!
“I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.”
Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!
“So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!”
Dr. Seuss book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Horton Hears a Who! (1954)
Source: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Context: "This", cried the Mayor, "is your town's darkest hour!
The time for all Whos who have blood that is red
To come to the aid of their country!", he said.
"We've GOT to make noises in greater amounts!
So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!"
“you find magic wherever you look. sit back and relax. all you need is a book”
Dr. Seuss book The Cat in the Hat
Variant: You can find magic
wherever you look.
Sit back and relax,
all you need is a book.
Source: The Cat in the Hat
