Collected Wisdom 2

I came across a wealth of quotable material from American writer Robert
Fulghum. For me to add to these would be guilding the lilly, so I offer
them unenhanced.

Robert Fulghum ((born 4 June 1937) is known for his essays. He became
famous and embarrassingly comfortable financially (his idea, not mine)
as a result of a book called 'All I Really Need to Know I Learned in
Kindergarten' (1986)

Google his name to learn more about what one interviewer calls today's
version of the Philosopher King. Meanwhile, here are some of his best
quotes. I have included his name and the source after each in case you
wish to pass any of them along to others.
......................
The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the
fence. 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, 'It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It' (1988)

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.
- Robert Fulghum, 'All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten'
(1986)

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.
- Robert Fulghum, "Pay Attention" in Handbook for the Soul (1995)

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 that love is stronger than death.
- Robert Fulghum's Credo

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, 'Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the
Refrigerator Door' (2001), p. 146

My convictions have validity for me because I have experimented with the
compounds of ideas of others in the laboratory of my mind. And I've
tested the results in the living out of my life. At twenty-one, I had
drawn an abstract map based on the evidence of others. At sixty, I have
accumulated a practical guide grounded in my own experience. At
twenty-one, I could discuss transportation theory with authority. At
sixty, I know which bus to catch to go where, what the fare is, and how
to get back home again. It is not my bus, but I know how to use it.
- Robert Fulghum, 'Words I Wish I Wrote' (1997)

I don't think the thing is to be well known, but being worth knowing.
- Robert Fulghum, Interview, "Robert Fulghum : Philosopher King" by
Linda Richards at January magazine

To insist on one's place in the scheme of things and to live up to that
place.
To empower others in their reaching for some place in the scheme of
things.
To do these things is to make fairy tales come true.
- Robert Fulghum, 'Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the
Refrigerator Door' (2001), p. 43

The older I get, the more I realize the importance of exercising the
various dimensions of my body, soul, mind and heart. Taken together,
these aspects give me a sense of wholeness. I want to be a whole human
being rather than one who limps on one leg because I don't know how to
use all of my parts. Intellectual, emotional, and physical activity are
not separate entities. Rather, they are dimensions of the same human
being.
- Robert Fulghum, "Pay Attention" in Handbook for the Soul (1995) edited
by Benjamin Shield

Unsourced:
It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need,
and our air force has to have a bake-sale to buy a bomber.

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

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

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.

Bill Allin
Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social
Problems, a guidebook for parents and teachers who want the world their
children grow up into to be a better place because the kids know what
they need to know to cope with it.
Learn more at http://billallin.com