Quotes from A Light in the Attic

Shel Silverstein ·  176 pages

Rating: (324.7K votes)


“Do a loony-goony dance
'Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“If you have to dry the dishes
(Such an awful boring chore)
If you have to dry the dishes
('Stead of going to the store)
If you have to dry the dishes
And you drop one on the floor
Maybe they won't let you
Dry the dishes anymore”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“Somebody has to go polish the stars,
They're looking a little bit dull.
Somebody has to go polish the stars,
For the eagles and starlings and gulls
Have all been complaining they're tarnished and worn,
They say they want new ones we cannot afford.
So please get your rags
And your polishing jars,
Somebody has to go polish the stars.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“FROZEN DREAM

I'll take the dream I had last night
And put it in my freezer,
So someday long and far away
When I'm an old grey geezer,
I'll take it out and thaw it out,
This lovely dream I've frozen,
And boil it up and sit me down
A dip my old cold toes in.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic



“One day he said, "I'll tell this town
How it feels to be an unfunny clown."
And he told them all why he looked so sad,
And he told them all why he felt so bad.
He told of Pain and Rain and Cold,
He told of Darkness in his soul,
And after he finished his tale of woe,
Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no,
They laughed until they shook the trees...
And while the world laughed outside.
Cloony the Clown sat down and cried.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“There's a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire--
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
And munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there--
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“It's all the same to the clam.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“There are no happy endings, endings are sad-so let's have a happy beginning and a happy middle.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“If we meet and I say, "Hi,"
That's a salutation.
If you ask me how I feel,
That's a consideration.
If we stop and talk awhile,
That's a conversation.
If we understand each other,
That's communication.
If we argue, scream and fight,
That's an altercation.
If later we apologize,
That's a reconciliation.
If we help each other home,
That's cooperation.
And all these ations added up
Make civilization.

(And if I say this is a wonderful poem, Is that exaggeration?)”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic



“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my toys will break.
So none of the other kids can use 'em....
Amen.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ‘em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ‘em.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“Standing is stupid,
Crawling's a curse,
Skipping is silly,
Walking is worse.
Hopping is hopeless,
Jumping's a chore,
Sitting is senseless,
Leaning's a bore.
Running's ridiculous,
Jogging's insane-
Guess I'll go upstairs and
Lie down again.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“I keep meeting all the right people
At all the wrong times.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“I'd rather play tennis than go to the dentist.
I'd rather play soccer than go to the doctor.
I'd rather play Hurk than go to work.
Hurk? Hurk? What's Hurk?
I don't know, but it must be better than work.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic



“Sometimes I get so depressed
'Bout what I haven't done.
-NEVER”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“We can't find the cat,
We don't know where she's at,
Oh, where did she go?
Does anyone know?
Let's ask this walking hat.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“I've discovered a way to stay friends forever -
There's really nothing to it.
I simply tell you what to do
And you do it!”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue and orange with lavender spots?”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic


“If we were a rock ‘n’ roll band,
We’d travel all over the land.
We’d play and we’d sing and wear spangly things,
If we were a rock ‘n’ roll band.
If we were a rock ‘n’ roll band,
And we were up there on the stand,
The people would hear us and love us and cheer us,
Hurray for that rock ‘n’ roll band.
If we were a rock ‘n’ roll band
Then we’d have a million fans.
We’d goggle and laugh and sign autographs,
If we were a rock ‘n’ roll band.
If we were a rock ‘n’ roll band,
The people would all kiss our hands.
We’d be millionaires and have extra long hair,
If we were a rock ‘n’ roll band.
But we ain’t no rock ‘n’ roll band,
We’re just seven kids in the sand
With homemade guitars and pails and jars
And drums of potato chip cans.
Just seven kids in the sand,
Talkin’ and wavin’ our hands,
And dreamin’ and thinkin’ oh wouldn’t it be grand,
If we were a rock ‘n’ roll band.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from A Light in the Attic



About the author

Shel Silverstein
Born place: in Chicago, IL, The United States
Born date September 25, 1930
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