Dr. Seuss Quotes

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Source: Dr. Seuss

Speaker: Dr. Seuss

Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter.

Context

This misquoted line is often attributed to Dr. Seuss.

Your well-meaning aunt, the one who bought you Oh, The Places You'll Go for elementary school graduation, posted this on your Facebook wall when you were having a bad day. A little inspirational image with this quote set against a happy background, attributed to Dr. Seuss.

She may mean well, but she's wrong. Dr. Seuss didn't say it. Who did? No one is exactly sure, but we are sure that is was not the rhyming doctor. One popular source is financier Bernard Baruch, whose name sounds like a Dr. Seuss character. He said it to a newspaper columnist in 1946. What was he talking about? Bullies? How to succeed in business? No, he was talking about where to seat people at dinner parties. Hardly inspirational.

Where you've heard it

You've heard this when you're having a bad day, and a friend tries to cheer you up. Or when you're looking at inspirational quotes on Pinterest.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

It's a little pretentious to use a quote if you don't know the source, or worse, if you get the source wrong. This is a good case for coming up with something original instead of using someone else's words.