Quotable Quotes: Robert Fulghum
by Miki Saxon
Does the name Robert Fulghum sound familiar to you? No?
Does “All I really need to know… I learned in kindergarten” ring a bell?
Robert Fulghum wrote that book and several others.
The first quote of his I remember seeing was decades ago on a poster in my sister’s home. It said, “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.” True then and truer now.
He said something else that has been useful in keeping the downs of my life in perspective, “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 inconvenience.” Fortunately, I’ve had very few problems in my life.
There are a lot of people who consider Fulghum ideas simplistic, but I find that his thoughts make sense and are easily applied to the workplace.
Think how much nicer your workplace would be if your colleagues, not to mention your boss, followed this advice, “Play fair. Don’t hit people. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.”
Bosses would do well to keep this bit of insight firmly in mind, since it applies equally well to your team, “Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.”
And the next time you’re looking for a way to jump-start your team’s creativity, consider tweaking this cogent advice, “If you want an interesting party sometime, combine cocktails and a fresh box of crayons for everyone.”
Finally, and most importantly, think how much nicer the world would be if corporations, governments, organizations and just plain people lived by these five words, “Clean up your own mess.”
Image credit: Wikipedia
