Catalyst Quotes

Be Like Children

“You can understand and relate to most people better if you look at them – no matter how old or impressive they may be – as if they are children.  For most of us never really grow up or mature all that much – we simply grow taller.   Oh, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple, whose daily life is still best described by fairy tales.”     (Leo Rosten)

“The great enemy of creativity is fear.   When we’re fearful, we freeze up … .   Creativity has a lot to do with a willingness to take risks.   Think about how children play.   They run around the playground without thinking about where they’re going.   They trip, they fall down, and then they get back up again and run some more.   They have a wonderful belief:  that everything will be all right.   They feel capable; they let go; they play … .   No matter how many facts and figures you have, you can’t predict the future.   There will always be surprises … .   Creativity helps us realize that we don’t have to understand everything.   We can enjoy something – feel it and use it – without ever fully comprehending it.”    (Faith Ringgold, Fast Company, April 2000)

“All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.   Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile ….   These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don’t hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
• Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all  – LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.   The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.   Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.”    (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum)