Celebrating Dr. Seuss’ Birthday: Fun Facts & Motivational Quotes

The famously known “Dr. Seuss” was born on March 2, 1904, as Theodor Seuss Geisel. Children may know him as one of their most familiar children’s authors, but Seuss was also a political cartoonist, and animator.

Fun facts about Dr. Seuss

• He not only wrote but illustrated, more than 60 books under the name “Doctor Seuss” (short form, Dr. Seuss)–and he sold at least 650 million copies of books, which were translated into more than 20 languages.
• An alum of Dartmouth College, he adopted his “Dr. Seuss” name there.
• He also attended Oxford for graduate school, to earn a D.Phil. in English literature, but left without a degree, returning to the United States and beginning his career.
• He worked for Vanity Fair, Life, and others. He also worked as an illustrator in the advertising field, and in the animation/film department of the United States Army, during WWII.
• His productions for Design for Death won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
• In 1956, Dartmouth gave him an honorary doctorate, essentially justifying the “Dr.” in his “Doctor Seuss” pen name (remember he never received his graduate degree).
• Dr. Seuss had a never-before-published book, called ‘What Pet Should I Get?’ which was released on July 28, 2015. The manuscript is reported to have been written in the 1950s or 1960s. It was reportedly stashed somewhere unseen in his office until his widow found it decades later, in the year 2013.
• Another of Dr. Seuss’ never-before-published books will reportedly be released in September 2019, by Penguin Random House. The manuscript for “Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum” was found alongside the manuscript for his book “What Pet Should I Get?,” which became a New York Times bestseller in 2015. Both books were reportedly found in his La Jolla, California home.

Famous Dr. Seuss quotes for tough days

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
― Dr. Seuss

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
― Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!

“I’m afraid that sometimes you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ’cause you’ll play against you.”
― Dr. Seuss

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”
― Dr. Seuss

“If things start happening, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along and you’ll start happening too.”
― Dr. Seuss

 

Famous Dr. Seuss quotes for living/loving self & others

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
― Dr. Seuss

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
― Dr. Seuss

“All alone! Whether you like it or not, alone is something you’ll be quite a lot!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! and The Lorax

“Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.”
― Dr. Seuss

“Remember me and smile, for it’s better to forget than to remember me and cry.”
― Dr. Seuss

 

Famous Dr. Seuss quotes for inspiration/motivation

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”
― Dr. Seuss

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
― Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You!

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

“Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.”
― Dr. Seuss
“Being crazy isn’t enough.”
― Dr. Seuss

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”
― Dr. Seuss

“If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.”
― Dr. Seuss

“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

“Only you can control your future.”
― Dr. Seuss

In chronological order, Seuss’ other books include: The Pocket Book of Boners, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, The Seven Lady Godivas, The King’s Stilts, Horton Hatches the Egg, McElligot’s Pool, Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, If I Ran the Zoo, Gerald McBoing Boing, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, Scrambled Eggs Super!, Horton Hears a Who!, On Beyond Zebra!, If I Ran the Circus, The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Happy Birthday to You!, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Green Eggs and Ham, The Sneetches and Other Stories, Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book, Dr. Seuss’s ABC, Hop on Pop, The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary, Fox in Socks, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, The Cat in the Hat Song Book, The Foot Book, I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories, My Book about ME, I Can Draw It Myself, Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?: Dr. Seuss’s Book of Wonderful Noises!, The Lorax, Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?, The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, There’s a Wocket in My Pocket!, Great Day for Up!, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!, The Cat’s Quizzer, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!, Oh Say Can You Say?, Hunches in Bunches, The Butter Battle Book, You’re Only Old Once!, I Am Not Going to Get Up Today!, The Tough Coughs as He Ploughs the Dough, and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!…