Lovely thoughts. Good lessons/reminders. But...did Seuss say it?
Having read Dr Seuss books to my son until I was Blue Fish in the face, I did not remember most of these quotes being in Dr Seuss's books. So...with a little curiosity and a little sleuthing I am here to report my findings.
Number 1 in this meme is accurate. It can be found in Happy Birthday to You!
Number 2 is not by the good Dr Seuss. The sentiment is in line with his works but it does not appear in any of his works, according to the good folks at http://www.seussville.com/
Number 3 is correct, it appears in Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Number 4--debunked in my first blog piece Did Seuss say it?
Number 5 Nope. Seuss never said it. Doesn't even sound like something he'd say, actually.
So if one is all for lists of life lessons, here's mine:
1: Ask questions
2: Verify
3: Be curious
4: Search for truth
5: Don't be a dumbass
6: Teach your children well
Dr Seuss is highly quotable but, instead of sharing something in a cute little box, why not pick up one of his books and share a quote directly from his work?
I will be sharing this post again around March 2 because of the celebrations taking place in schools in honor of Seuss's birthday. It is good to honor someone, at any time of year, but spreading misinformation is actually a dishonor. Many is the time I've seen posters in schools with quotes by someone but they were not by Dr Seuss. Would you like it if someone threw a party in your honor and then quoted other people; ignoring what you did say?
Why not have children go through his books and find and share a quote that is meaningful to them, instead of teaching them something Seuss never wrote?
Another page devoted to debunking Seuss quotes: Oh, the quotes you'll forge!
Blog posts © copyrighted 2015 Julie Patrick Clark
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