Theodor Seuss Geisel
Better known to the
world as the beloved Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in 1904 in
Springfield, Massachusetts. Ted's father, Theodor Robert, and
grandfather were brewmasters in the city. His mother, Henrietta Seuss
Geisel, often soothed her children to sleep by "chanting" rhymes
remembered from her youth. Ted credited his mother with both his ability
and desire to create the rhymes for which he became so well known.
Ted left Springfield as a teenager to attend Dartmouth College, where he
became editor-in-chief of the Jack-O-Lantern,
Dartmouth's humor magazine. Although his tenure as editor ended
prematurely when Ted and his friends were caught throwing a drinking
party, which was against the prohibition laws and school policy, he
continued to contribute to the magazine, signing his work "Seuss." This
is the first record of the "Seuss" pseudonym, which was both Ted's
middle name and his mother's maiden name.
To please his father, who wanted him to be a college professor, Ted went
on to Oxford University in England after graduation. However, his
academic studies bored him, and he decided to tour Europe instead.
Oxford did provide him the opportunity to meet a classmate, Helen
Palmer, who not only became his first wife, but also a children's author
and book editor.
After returning to the United States, Ted began to pursue a career as a
cartoonist. The Saturday
Evening Post and other
publications published some of his early pieces, but the bulk of Ted's
activity during his early career was devoted to creating advertising
campaigns for Standard Oil, which he did for more than 15 years.
After Ted's first wife died in 1967, Ted married an old friend, Audrey
Stone Geisel, who not only influenced his later books, but now guards
his legacy as the president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
At the time of his death on September 24, 1991, Ted had written and
illustrated 44 children's books, including such all-time favorites as
Green Eggs and Ham, Oh, the
Places You'll Go, Fox in Socks,
and How the Grinch Stole
Christmas. His books had
been translated into more than 15 languages. Over 200 million copies had
found their way into homes and hearts around the world.
Besides the books, his works have provided the source for eleven
children's television specials, a Broadway musical and a feature-length
motion picture. Other major motion pictures are on the way. His honors
included two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award and the
Pulitzer Prize.
"Be who you are and say how you feel because
those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr.
Seuss
“Today
you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer
than You.”
“Don't
cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”
“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!”
“The more
that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.”
“Today
was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”
You have
brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself
in any direction you choose. You're on your own.
And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.”
“Think
left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you
can think up if only you try!”
“Unless
someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get
better. It's not.”
“And the
Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without
ribbons.
It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
“You can
get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by
yourself, sitting alone in a room.”
“As you
partake of the world's bill of fare,/ that's darned good advice to
follow-Do a lot of spitting out the hot air-And be careful what you
swallow.”