Robert Fulghum Quotes

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These are the things I learned: 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. Wash your hands before you eat. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw some and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day. Take a nap every afternoon, and, when you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Robert Fulghum

Hurt, Sorry, Thinking

Robert Fulghum, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”

55 Copy quote
We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness — and call it love — true love.

Robert Fulghum

Love, Funny, Life

"True Love". Book by Robert Fulghum, 1997.

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

Robert Fulghum

Marriage, Mother, Children

"Reflections for Tending the Sacred Garden". Book by Bonita Jean Zimmer (p. 182), April 2003.

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

Robert Fulghum

Love, Life, Death

Robert Fulghum (2010). “It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It”, p.8, Ivy Books

212 Copy quote
We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, while others bright, some have weird names, but they all have learned to live together in the same box.

Robert Fulghum

Names, Together, Dull

165 Copy quote
One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.

Robert Fulghum

Differences, Coping Mechanisms, Oatmeal

"Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door". Book by Robert Fulghum, 1991.

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All I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten. Share everything ... Don't hit people ... Clean up your own mess.

Robert Fulghum

Education, People, Kindergarten

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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.

Robert Fulghum

Memories, People, Mind

52 Copy quote
Peace is not something you wish for, � it is something you make, something you are, something you do,�and something you give away.

Robert Fulghum

Motivational, Forgiveness, Peace

41 Copy quote
It doesn’t matter what you say you believe - it only matters what you do.

Robert Fulghum

Believe, Matter

Robert Fulghum (2004). “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things”, p.226, Ballantine Books

31 Copy quote
The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. No, not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.

Robert Fulghum

Water, Care, Grass Is Greener On The Other Side

Robert Fulghum (2010). “It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It”, p.160, Ivy Books

90 Copy quote
Making a living and having a life are not the same thing. Making a living and making a life that's worthwhile are not the same thing. Living the good life and living a good life are not the same thing. A job title doesn't even come close to answering the question. "What do you do?".

Robert Fulghum

Life, Jobs, Titles

Robert Fulghum (2010). “It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It”, p.65, Ivy Books

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Life is. I am. Anything might happen. And I believe I may invest my life with meaning. The uncertainty is a blessing in disguise. If I were absolutely certain about all things, I would spend my life in anxious misery, fearful of losing my way. But since everything and anything are always possible, the miraculous is always nearby and wonders shall never, ever cease.

Robert Fulghum

Life, Believe, Blessing

Robert Fulghum (2011). “Maybe (Maybe Not): Second Thoughts from a Secret Life”, p.5, Ballantine Books

53 Copy quote
Even if your watch is full of diamonds the hour is still 60 minutes

Robert Fulghum

Wisdom, Watches, Hours

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If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.

Robert Fulghum

Life, Positive, Encouraging

Robert Fulghum (2010). “Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door”, p.146, Ivy Books

95 Copy quote
Anything can happen. The great banana peel of existence is always on the floor somewhere.

Robert Fulghum

Bananas, Existence, Anything Can Happen

34 Copy quote
Love is a fabric which never fades, no matter how often it is washed in the water of adversity and grief.

Robert Fulghum

Love, Grief, Adversity

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You may never have proof of your importance but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.

Robert Fulghum

Thinking, Important, May

Robert Fulghum (2004). “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things”, p.216, Ballantine Books

33 Copy quote
Ignorance and power and pride are a deadly mixture, you know.

Robert Fulghum

Ignorance, Pride, Mixtures

Robert Fulghum (2004). “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things”, p.62, Ballantine Books

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If someone were to ask me whether I believed in God, or saw God, or had a particular relationship with God, I would reply that I don't separate God from my world in my thinking. I feel that God is everywhere. That's why I never feel separated from God or feel I must seek God, any more than a fish in the ocean feels it must seek water. In a sense, God is the "ocean" in which we live.

Robert Fulghum

God, Ocean, Thinking

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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.

Robert Fulghum

Hands, Together, World

Gail Feinstein Forman, Robert Fulghum (1994). “It All Started in Kindergarten: Unforgettable Stories for Listening and Conversation”, Prentice Hall

41 Copy quote
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 somethings in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.

Robert Fulghum

Heart, Dark, Men

Robert Fulghum (1999). “Robert Fulghum's All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”, p.99, Dramatic Publishing

40 Copy quote
Only now have I finally realized that my life has been an unending field trip. And I have tried hard not to be a tourist. But to be an adventurer, a traveler, an explorer, a learner, and a pilgrim.

Robert Fulghum

Tourists, Fields, Unending

Robert Fulghum (2011). “Maybe (Maybe Not): Second Thoughts from a Secret Life”, p.52, Ballantine Books

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If I don't have time to live my life well the first time, when am I going to find the time to go back and live it over?

Robert Fulghum

Firsts, Living My Life, First Time

Robert Fulghum (2010). “Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door”, p.119, Ivy Books

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For thirty years now, in times of stress and strain, when something has me backed against the wall and I'm ready to do something really stupid with my anger, a sorrowful face appears in my mind and asks... "Problem or inconvenience?" I think of this as the Wollman Test of Reality. Life is lumpy. And a lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same lump. One should learn the difference.

Robert Fulghum

Wall, Stress, Stupid

22 Copy quote

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Born: June 4, 1937
Occupation: Author
Cite this Page: Citation

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