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Robert Fulghum Quotes

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Robert Fulghum, born on June 4, 1937, is an American author known for his warm, humorous, and insightful writing. His book 'All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten' has become a bestseller and influenced many readers.

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All Knows Ifs Thinking Needs People World Way May Stills Life Long Want Believe Coping Mechanisms Heart Imagination Wells Hands Life Is Matter

Famous Robert Fulghum Quotes

“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.”

Thinking Life Play Wonder Inspirational Life Balance Draws Dance Paint Balanced Life Balance Balanced Life Music And Dance Coping Mechanisms Work And Life Balance

Author:Robert Fulghum

“I think my writing is part of my ministry.”

Thinking Writing Ministry

Author:Robert Fulghum

“I don't think there is a hidden purpose to the universe that you have to puzzle out.”

Thinking Purpose Universe Puzzles

Author:Robert Fulghum

“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.”

People Thinking World Play Hands Together Found Hurt Watches Share Cold Draws Fairs Clean Sticks Paint Sorry Warm Mess Afternoon Milk Balanced Traffic Cookies Naps Holding Hands Balanced Life

Author:Robert Fulghum

“Sometimes, when asked the what-do-you-do question, it occurs to me to say that I work for the government. I have a government job, essential to national security. I AM A CITIZEN. Like the Supreme Court judges, my job is for life, and the well-being of my country depends on me. It seems fair to think that I should be held accountable for my record in the same way I expect accountability from those who seek elected office. I would like to be able to say that I can stand on my record and am proud of it.”

“I often say that I don't worry about the meaning of life-I can't handle that big stuff. What concerns me is the meaning in life-day by day, hour by hour, while I'm doing whatever it is I do. What counts is not what I do, but how I think about myself while I'm doing it.”

Thinking I Can Bigs Stuff Hours Worry Concern Handle Meaning Of Life Meaning Life Big Stuff

Book:It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It

Source: It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It

“If you tell people you talk to God, they'll think you're religious, but if you say God talks to you, it's ten to one they'll think you're crazy.”

People Ifs Thinking Religious Crazy Ten

Book:Maybe (Maybe Not): Second Thoughts from a Secret Life

Source: Maybe (Maybe Not): Second Thoughts from a Secret Life

“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.”

Source: Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door

“So you drive as far as you can, even when you can clearly read the sign. You want to think you are exempt, that it doesn’t apply to you. But it does. Life is still a dead end. And we still have a hard time believing it”

Thinking Want Believe Doe Stills Ends Hard Life Is Hard Times Dead Ends

Author:Robert Fulghum

“It’s harder to talk about, but what I really, really, really want for Christmas is just this: I want to be 5 years old again for an hour. I want to laugh a lot and cry a lot. I want to be picked or rocked to sleep in someone’s arms, and carried up to be just one more time. I know what I really want for Christmas: I want my childhood back. People who think good thoughts give good gifts.”

People Thinking Knows Want Giving Years Hours Sleep Laughing Childhood Cry Arms Harder Just One More Time Good Thoughts

Author:Robert Fulghum

“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.”

Thinking Knows May Important Importance Proof Without You

Book:All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things

Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things

“If you do not join the dancing you will feel foolish. So why not dance? And i will tell you a secret: If you do not join the dance, we will know you are a fool. But if you dance, we will think well of you for trying. if you dance badly to begin and we laugh, what is the sin in that? We will begin there.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Feels Trying Wells Sin Secret Laughing Fool Dancing Foolish Why Not

Author:Robert Fulghum

“Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. 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.”

Ifs Thinking World Stills Matter Whole Hands Government Would Be Together Three Found Policy Lays Clean Sticks Whole World Mess Clock Afternoon Milk Cookies Naps Old You Holding Hands

Author:Robert Fulghum

“Liberation, I guess, is everybody getting what they think they want, without knowing the whole truth. Or in other words, liberation finally amounts to being free from things we don't like in order to be enslaved by things we approve of. Here's to the eternal tandem.”

Thinking Want Whole Order Knowing Amount Eternal Liberation Being Free Whole Truth Tandem

Author:Robert Fulghum

“Only an open mind still has room for new knowledge. What is outgrown and used up must be discarded to make room for what is yet to be learned. And much of the best thinking is done alone-in deserts, on beaches, in bed, behind closed doors. It is why we say we need to get away-to escape from clutter and busyness-to hear ourselves think.”

Source: Words I Wish I Wrote: A Collection of Writing that Inspired My Ideas

“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.”

Ifs Thinking World Feels God Asks Water Christianity Saws Particular Ocean Fishes Ask Me Relationship With God

Author:Robert Fulghum

“Sometimes during the day, I consciously focus on some ordinary object and allow myself a momentary "paying-attention." This paying-attention gives meaning to my life. I don't know who it was, but someone said that careful attention paid to anything is a window into the universe. Pausing to think this way, even for a brief moment, is very important. It gives quality to my day.”

“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.”

“We are the only creatures that both laugh and weep. I think it's because we are the only creatures that see the difference between the way things are and the way they might be.”

Thinking Way Might Differences Laughing Creatures

Book:It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It

Source: It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It