A A Milne Quotes

A pekingeese is not a pet dog; he is an undersized lion. ~ A.A. Milne

People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day. ~ A.A. Milne

There must be somebody there, because somebody must have said Nobody. ~ A.A. Milne

Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day. ~ A.A. Milne

Oh, Bear!" said Christopher Robin. "How I do love you!" "So do I," said Pooh. ~ A.A. Milne

It gets you nowhere if the other person's tail is only just in sight for the second half of the conversation. ~ A.A. Milne

Think it over, think it under. ~ A.A. Milne

Well, you both went out with the blue balloon, and you took your gun with you, just in case, as you always did, ~ A.A. Milne

Some poeople care too much....I think its called Loved ~ A.A. Milne

I was walking along looking for somebody, and then suddenly I wasn't anymore. ~ A.A. Milne

HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY. Pooh ~ A.A. Milne

There's the South Pole, said Christopher Robin, and I expect there's an East Pole and a West Pole, though people don't like talking about them. ~ A.A. Milne

Piglet opened the letter box and climbed in. Then, having untied himself, he began to squeeze into the slit, through which in the old days when front doors were front doors, many an unexpected letter than WOL had written to himself, had come slipping. ~ A.A. Milne

Get out of my chair, dillhole! ~ A.A. Milne

The Old Testament is responsible for more atheism, agnosticism, disbelief - call it what you will - than any book ever written. It has emptied more churches than all the counter-attractions of cinema, motor-bicycle and golf course. ~ A.A. Milne

Mind over matter, will make the Pooh unfatter. ~ A.A. Milne

Hallo, Eeyore."
"Same to you, Pooh Bear, and twice on Thursdays," said Eeyore gloomily.
Before Pooh could say: 'Why Thursdays?' Christopher Robin began to explain the sad story of Eeyore's lost house. ~ A.A. Milne

A proper sense of proportion leaves no room for superstition. A man says, "I have never been in a shipwreck," and becoming nervous touches wood. Why is he nervous? He has this paragraph before his eyes: "Among the deceased was Mr. - . By a remarkable coincidence this gentleman had been saying only a few days before that he had never been in a shipwreck. Little did he think that his next voyage would falsify his words so tragically." It occurs to him that he has read paragraphs like that again and again. Perhaps he has. Certainly he has never read a paragraph like this: "Among the deceased was Mr. - . By a remarkable coincidence this gentleman had never made the remark that he had not yet been in a shipwreck." Yet that paragraph could have been written truthfully thousands of times. ~ A.A. Milne

It is a terrible thing for an author to have a lot of people running about his book without any invitation from him at all. ~ A.A. Milne

In the language of the day it is customary to describe a certain sort of book as "escapist" literature. As I understand it, the adjective implies, a little condescendingly, that the life therein depicted cannot be identified with the real life which the critic knows so well in W.C.1: and may even have the disastrous effect on the reader of taking him happily for a few hours out of his own real life in N.W.8. Why this should be a matter for regret I do not know; nor why realism in a novel is so much admired when realism in a picture is condemned as mere photography; nor, I might add, why drink and fornication should seem to bring the realist closer to real life than, say, golf and gardening. ~ A.A. Milne

Rabbit scratched his whiskers thoughtfully, and pointed out that, when once Pooh was pushed back, he was back, and of course nobody was more glad to see Pooh than he was, still there it was, some lived in trees and some lived underground, and
"You mean I'd never get out?" said Pooh.
"I mean," said Rabbit, "that having got so far, it seems a pity to waste it. ~ A.A. Milne

Eeyore", said Owl, "Christopher Robin is giving a party."
"Very interesting," said Eeyore. "I suppose they will be sending me down the odd bits which got trodden on. Kind and Thoughtful. Not at all, don't mention it."
"There is an Invitation for you."
"What's that like?"
"An Invitation!"
"Yes, I heard you. Who dropped it?"
"This isn't something to eat, it's asking you to the party. To-morrow."
Eeyore shook his head slowly.
"You mean Piglet. The little fellow with the exited ears. That's Piglet. I'll tell him."
"No, no!" said Owl, getting quite fussy. "It's you!"
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. Christopher Robin said 'All of them! Tell all of them'"
"All of them, except Eeyore?"
"All of them," said Owl sulkily.
"Ah!" said Eeyore. "A mistake, no doubt, but still, I shall come. Only don't blame me when it rains. ~ A.A. Milne

It is impossible to win gracefully at chess. No man has yet said "Mate!" in a voice which failed to sound to his opponent bitter, boastful and malicious. ~ A.A. Milne

You're braver than you believe and stronger and smarter than you think. ~ A.A. Milne

Yin day, when Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and Wee Grumphie were aw haein a crack thegither, Christopher Robin feenished whit he had in his mooth and said lichtsomely: 'I saw a Huffalamp the-day, Wee Grumphie.'
'Whit wis it daein?' spiered Wee Grumphie.
'Jist lampin alang', said Christopher Robin. 'I dinna think it saw me.'
'I saw yin wance', said Wee Grumphie. 'At least, I think it wis a Huffalamp. But mibbe it wisna.'
'Sae did I', said Pooh, wunnerin whit like a Huffalamp wis.
'Ye dinna see them that aften', said Christopher Robin in an affhaund wey.
'No noo', said Wee Grumphie.
'No at this time o the year', said Pooh. ~ A.A. Milne

The nicest thing about the rain is that it always stops. Eventually. ~ A.A. Milne

On Tuesday, when it hails and snows,
The feeling on me grows and grows
That hardly anybody knows
If those are these or these are those. ~ A.A. Milne

There was once an old sailor my grandfather knew, Who had so many things which he wanted to do That, whenever he thought it was time to begin, He couldn't because of the state he was in. ~ A.A. Milne

To her-
Hand in hand we come
Christopher Robin and I
To lay this book in your lap.
Say you're surprised?
Say you like it?
Say it's just what you wanted?
Because it's yours-
because we love you. ~ A.A. Milne

Well, you can't know it without something having been sneezed. ~ A.A. Milne

Well, even if I'm in the moon, I needn't be face downwards all the time," so he got cautiously up and looked about him. ~ A.A. Milne

But now I am six. And I'm clever as clever. And now I think I'll stay six now forever and ever. ~ A.A. Milne

There are some people who begin the Zoo at the beginning, called WAYIN, and walk as quickly as they can past every cage until they get to the one called WAYOUT, but the nicest people go
straight to the animal they love the most, and stay there. ~ A.A. Milne

Something feels funny. I must be thinking too hard. ~ A.A. Milne

Non apibus dubitandem est.
(You never can tell with bees.)
~ Winnie ille Pu ~ A.A. Milne

I have been Foolish and Deluded," said he, "and I am a Bear of No Brain at All." "You're the Best Bear in All the World," said Christopher Robin soothingly. "Am I?" said Pooh hopefully. And then he brightened up suddenly. "Anyhow," he said, "it is nearly Luncheon Time." So he went home for it. ~ A.A. Milne

He thought how sad it was to be an Animal who had never had a bunch of violets picked for him. ~ A.A. Milne

The average man finds life very uninteresting as it is. And I think the reason why is that he is always waiting for something to happen to him instead of setting to work to make things happen ~ A.A. Milne

I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen. ~ A.A. Milne

He [Winne the Pooh] sang it like that, which is much the best way of singing it, and when he had finished, he waited for Piglet to say that, of all the outdoor hums for Snowy weather he had ever heard, this was the best. And after thinking the matter out carefully, Piglet said:
"Pooh," he said solemnly, "It isn't the toes so much as the ears".
... Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and other people look at it ~ A.A. Milne

Oh, help!" said Pooh. "I'd better go back."
"Oh, bother!" said Pooh. "I shall have to go on."
"I can't do either!" said Pooh. "Oh, help and bother! ~ Milne, A. A.

Piglet was so excited at the idea of being Useful that he forgot to be frightened any more, and when Rabbit went on to say that Kangas were only Fierce during the winter months, being at other times of an Affectionate Disposition, he could hardly sit still, he was so eager to begin being useful at once. ~ A.A. Milne

Sometimes,' said Pooh, 'the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. ~ A.A. Milne

Hallo, Rabbit," he said, "is that you?"
"Let's pretend it isn't," said Rabbit, "and see what happens. ~ A.A. Milne

From what I've read of detective stories, inspectors always do want to drag the pond first. ~ A.A. Milne

Drinking your milk and talking at the same time may result in your having to be patted on the back and dried for quite a long time afterwords. ~ A.A. Milne

No one can tell me, Nobody knows, Where the wind comes from, Where the wind goes. ~ A.A. Milne

The word "lesson" came back to Pooh as one he had heard before somewhere.
"There's a thing called Twy-stymes," he said. "Christopher Robin tried to teach it to me once, but it didn't."
"What didn't?" said Rabbit.
"Didn't what?" said Piglet.
Pooh shook his head.
"I don't know," he said. "It just didn't. What are we talking about?"
"Pooh," said Piglet reproachfully, "haven't you been listening to what Rabbit was saying?"
"I listened, but I had a small piece of fluff in my ear. Could you say it again, please, Rabbit? ~ A.A. Milne

Gone out. Backson. Busy backson. ~ A.A. Milne

What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?"
"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best-" and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. And then he thought that being with Christopher Robin was a very good thing to do, and having Piglet near was a very friendly thing to have; and so, when he had thought it all out, he said, "What I like best in the whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day outside, and birds singing."
"I like that too," said Christopher Robin, "but what I like doing best is Nothing. ~ A.A. Milne

I wish I'd been alive when the internet was invented. I'd have sold so many more books ... ~ A.A. Milne

Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That's the problem." - A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Rene Agredano and Jim Nelson listened. They listened with all their hearts...

(As quoted by MUTTS creator Patrick McDonnell in his foreword to "Be More Dog: Learning to Live in the Now") ~ Jim Nelson

A Fly can't bird, but a bird can fly. ~ A.A. Milne

Walking with her man, Lost in a dream ~ A.A. Milne

It's a little Anxious," Piglet said to himself, "to be a
Very Small Animal Entirely Surrounded by Water. Christopher
Robin and Pooh could escape by Climbing Trees, and Kanga could
escape by Jumping, and Rabbit could escape by Burrowing, and
Owl could escape by Flying, and Eeyore could escape by
by
Making a Loud Noise Until Rescued, and here am I, surrounded by
water and I can't do anything. ~ A.A. Milne

When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said. ~ A.A. Milne

Whenever there comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever"- Winnie the Pooh. ~ A.A. Milne

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
"Pooh!" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you. ~ A.A. Milne

Pooh," said Rabbit kindly, "you haven't any brain."
"I know," said Pooh humbly. ~ A.A. Milne

If people ask me,
I always tell them:
"Quite well, thank you, I'm very glad to say."
If people ask me,
I always answer,
"Quite well, thank you, how are you today?"
I always answer,
I always tell them,
If they ask me
Politely ...
BUT SOMETIMES
I wish
That they wouldn't ~ A.A. Milne

The more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there. ~ A.A. Milne

In the drowsy heat of the summer afternoon the Red House was taking its siesta. There was a lazy murmur of bees in the flower-borders, a gentle cooing of pigeons in the tops of the elms. From ~ A.A. Milne

Always wear a smile, because your smile is a reason for many others to smile! ~ A.A. Milne

The truth is that Fate does not go out of its way to be dramatic. If you or I had the power of life and death in our hands, we should no doubt arrange some remarkably bright and telling effects. A man who spilt the salt callously would be drowned next week in the Dead Sea, and a couple who married in May would expire simultaneously in the May following. But Fate cannot worry to think out all the clever things that we should think out. It goes about its business solidly and unromantically, and by the ordinary laws of chance it achieves every now and then something startling and romantic. Superstition thrives on the fact that only the accidental dramas are reported. ~ A.A. Milne

He respects owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right. ~ A.A. Milne

And then we'll go out, Piglet, and sing my song to Eeyore."
"Which song, Pooh?"
"The one we're going to sing to Eeyore," explained Pooh. ~ A.A. Milne

The Dormouse looked out, and he said with a sigh:
I suppose all these people know better than I.
It was silly, perhaps, but I did like the view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue). ~ A.A. Milne

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever. ~ A.A. Milne

To seem natural rather than to be natural. ~ A.A. Milne

Eeyore, the old grey donkey, stood by the side of the stream and looked at himself in the water. "Pathetic," he said. "That's what it is. Pathetic." ~ A.A. Milne

You gave me Christopher Robin, and then
You breathed new life in Pooh.
Whatever of each has left my pen
Goes homing back to you.
My book is ready, and comes to greet
The mother it longs to see
It would be my present to you, my sweet,
If it weren't your gift to me. ~ A.A. Milne

If there's a buzzing-noise, somebody's making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you're a bee. ~ A.A. Milne

Pooh hasn't much Brain, but he never comes to any harm. He does silly things and they turn out right. There's Owl. Owl hasn't exactly got Brain, but he Knows Things. He would know the Right Thing to Do when Surrounded by Water. There's Rabbit. He hasn't Learnt in Books, but he can always Think of a Clever Plan. There's Kanga. She isn't Clever, Kanga isn't, but she would be so anxious about Roo that she would do a Good Thing to Do without thinking about it. And then there's Eeyore. And Eeyore is so miserable anyhow that he wouldn't mind about this. ~ A.A. Milne

Would you mind coming with me, Piglet, in case they turn out to be Hostile Animals? ~ A.A. Milne

TTFN Ta Ta For Now! ~ A.A. Milne

Promise you won't forget me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred. ~ A.A. Milne

They wanted to come in after the pounds", explained Pooh, "so I let them. It's the best way to write poetry, letting things come. ~ A.A. Milne

How did you fall in, Eeyore?" asked Rabbit, as he dried him with Piglet's handkerchief.
"I didn't," said Eeyore.
"But how
"
"I was BOUNCED," said Eeyore.
"Oo," said Roo excitedly, "did somebody push you?"
"Somebody BOUNCED me. I was just thinking by the side of the river
thinking, if any of you know what that means
when I received a loud BOUNCE."
"Oh, Eeyore!" said everybody.
"Are you sure you didn't slip?" asked Rabbit wisely.
"Of course I slipped. If you're standing on the slippery bank of a river, and somebody BOUNCES you loudly from behind, you slip. What did you think I did? ~ A.A. Milne

When you are pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen, brush the honey off your nose and spruce yourself up as best you can, so as to look Ready for Anything. ~ A.A. Milne

You know, when once you've discovered a secret yourself, it always seems as if it must be so obvious to everybody else. ~ A.A. Milne

When stuck in the river, it is best to dive and swim to the bank yourself before someone drops a large stone on your chest in an attempt to hoosh you there. ~ A.A. Milne

I do remember, and then when I try to remember, I forget. ~ A.A. Milne

Good morning, Eeyore," said Pooh.
"Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore gloomily. "If it is a good morning, which I doubt," said he.
"Why, what's the matter?"
"Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it."
"Can't all what?" said Pooh, rubbing his nose.
"Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush. ~ A.A. Milne

Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. ~ A.A. Milne

Vespers

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

God bless Mummy. I know that's right.
Wasn't it fun in the bath tonight?
The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot.
Oh! God bless Daddy -- I quite forgot.

If I open my fingers a little bit more,
I can see Nanny's dressing-gown on the door.
It's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood.
Oh! God bless Nanny and make her good.

Mine has a hood, and I lie in bed,
And pull the hood right over my head,
And I shut my eyes, and I curl up small,
And nobody knows that I'm there at all.

Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day.
And what was the other I had to say?
I said "Bless Daddy," so what can it be?
Oh! Now I remember. God bless Me.

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed.
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers. ~ A.A. Milne

What do you say, Pooh?"
Pooh opened his eyes with a jerk and said, "Extremely."
"Extremely what?" asked Rabbit.
"What you were saying," said Pooh. "Undoubtably. ~ A.A. Milne

Do you remember," he said, "one of Holmes's little scores over Watson about the number of steps up to the Baker Street lodging? Poor old Watson had been up and down them a thousand times, but he had never thought of counting them, whereas Holmes had counted them as a matter of course, and knew that there were seventeen. And that was supposed to be the difference between observation and non-observation. Watson was crushed again, and Holmes appeared to him more amazing than ever. Now, it always seemed to me that in that matter Holmes was the ass, and Watson the sensible person. What on earth is the point of keeping in your head an unnecessary fact like that? If you really want to know at any time the number of steps to your lodging, you can ring up your landlady and ask her. ~ A.A. Milne

He was telling an interesting anecdote full of exciting words like "encyclopedia" and "rhododendron". ~ A.A. Milne

Good morning, Eeyore," shouted Piglet. "Good morning, Little Piglet," said Eeyore. "If it is a good morning," he said. "Which I doubt," said he. "Not that it matters," he ~ A.A. Milne

Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?'
'Supposing it didn't,' said Pooh after careful thought.
Piglet was comforted by this. ~ A.A. Milne

Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn't. ~ A.A. Milne

A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside. ~ A.A. Milne

Oh, Kanga," said Pooh, after Rabbit had winked at him twice, "I don't know if you are interested in Poetry at all?" "Hardly at all," said Kanga. ~ A.A. Milne

When I was young, we always had mornings like this. ~ A.A. Milne

But [Pooh] couldn't sleep. The more he tried to sleep the more he couldn't. He tried counting Sheep, which is sometimes a good way of getting to sleep, and, as that was no good, he tried counting Heffalumps. And that was worse. Because every Heffalump that he counted was making straight for a pot of Pooh's honey, and eating it all. For some minutes he lay there miserably, but when the five hundred and eighty-seventh Heffalump was licking its jaws, and saying to itself, "Very good honey this, I don't know when I've tasted better," Pooh could bear it no longer. ~ A.A. Milne

It's your fault, Eeyore. You've never been to see any of us. You just stay here in this one corner of the Forest waiting for the others to come to you. Why don't you go to THEM sometimes? ~ A.A. Milne

One advantage of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries ~ A.A. Milne

Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon. ~ A.A. Milne

If one is to be called a liar, one may as well make an effort to deserve the name. ~ A.A. Milne

But it isn't easy,' said Pooh. 'Because Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is to go where they can find you. ~ A.A. Milne