Words I Wish I Wrote: A Collection of Writing That Inspired My Ideas [Hardcover]

Robert Fulghum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997

Robert Fulghum's books All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It, Uh-Oh, Maybe (Maybe Not), and From Beginning to End have struck a chord with readers everywhere, making him one of the bestselling authors of our time with six New York Times bestsellers in a row. There are currently more than 14 million copies of these books in print in 27 languages and 93 countries.

In Words I Wish I Wrote, Fulghum reveals the works of writers who have inspired him. As he says, "When I look deep beneath my declarations I see the underlying thoughts of others. As hard as I have tried to speak in my own voice, I realize now that nothing I have said is original or unique. My expressions echo and imitate the statements of others. Thought is forever being revived, recycled, and renewed. I have found that someone else has always been this way before me. And they have spoken of the way in words I wish I had written -- in language I could not improve upon".

The confirming statements, quotes, and credos that influenced Fulghum through the years are collected here, organized thematically into such sections as Companions, God, Bene-Dictions, Contra-Dictions, Simplify, and Believe. Each section begins with a short, introductory essay by Fulghum followed by inspiring passages drawn from a diverse group of sources, from Jerry Garcia to Albert Camus, Dylan Thomas to Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust to Beatrix Potter. In addition, at the end of each section, Fulghum offers readers his own personal commentary on the sources.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Robert Fulghum, the part-time Unitarian minister whose gentle and humorous stories have made him a bestselling author many times over (beginning with All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten), pays tribute to the writers who inspired him in Words I Wish I Wrote. He confesses that at one particularly low moment in the late '50s, he was dredged up from the Slough of Despond by reading the works Albert Camus, whose gaze over a deeper abyss gave Fulghum hope. It was that experience that led Fulghum to seek out writings with uplifting messages. The result is this compilation of brief passages from the likes of Wallace Stevens ("After the final no there comes a yes"), Tom Robbins ("Real courage is risking one's clichés"), and Buckminster Fuller ("God is a verb").

From Library Journal

Publishing phenomenon Fulghum, who declared All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten, must have had some class. Here he sums up the works of thinkers who have influenced him, from Camus to Kafka to Proust.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060175605
• ISBN-13: 978-0060175603
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #544,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Fulghum is the bestselling author of "All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten," "It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It," "Uh-Oh," "Maybe (Maybe Not)," "From Beginning To End," "Words I Wish I Wrote," "True Love," and "What On Earth Have I Done?"

"Third Wish" is his first novel, published originally in Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian. He lives in Seattle, Washington and on the Greek island of Crete.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book of "Words I Wish I Wrote", March 3, 2000

By 

Matthew Turner - See all my reviews

This review is from: Words I Wish I Wrote: A Collection of Writing That Inspired My Ideas (Paperback)

This book has to be one of the best that I have ever read. The effect that it has on the reader is immediate and profound, for it has a way of showing you life through the simplest and yet most obtuse terms. It is truly a piece that will expand the mind and inspire the imagination, a much read for any "thinker."

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Labor of love, July 12, 2000

By 

Paula Berman (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Words I Wish I Wrote: A Collection of Writing That Inspired My Ideas (Paperback)

Fulghum's an independent thinker, and I respect him for that. Yeah, his works may not be classed among the greats of philosophy, but I like them. He combines a lust for life to rival Henry James with the knowledge of a lifelong reader and the wisdom born of a varied and examined life experience. I think this book is mostly a labor of love, a tribute to the thinkers who have influenced him as he hopes to reach others. (And if I recall correctly, he's donating the profits).

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Changed My Whole Perspective, May 31, 2002

By 

bibliomaven - See all my reviews

This review is from: Words I Wish I Wrote: A Collection of Writing That Inspired My Ideas (Hardcover)

I must say that when I started this book today, my day, in fact my week was going very badly. By the time I finished it a couple of hours later my whole perspective had changed, and I feel revived and refreshed. Robert Fulghum has given me back a renewed feeling of faith and hope again. How can I ever show my gratitude? Only by telling others how much it has meant to me. Thank you Robert Fulghum, for sharing the wisdom that you have garnered from these great writers. Although you didn't write their words, yours are so inspiring to me. I would like to share some of my favorites that I think are relevant to the theme of his book:

"The way a book is read -- which is to say, the qualities a reader brings to a book -- can have as much to do with its worth as anything the author puts into it." (Norman Cousins)

He ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.
He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book. What liberty
A loosened spirit brings!
(Emily Dickinson)

'Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem to be confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations--such is a pleasure beyond compare.
(Yoshida Kenko)

For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragon's teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men.
(John Milton)