Solitude is not the same as loneliness. Solitude is a solitary boat floating in a sea of possible companions.
Robert FulghumRead
As one old gentleman put it, " Son, I don't care if you're stark nekkid and wear a bone in your nose. If you kin fiddle, you're all right with me. It's the music we make that counts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that personal appearance or societal norms are insignificant compared to the value of one's talents and contributions.
Robert Fulghum's quote communicates a powerful message about acceptance and the true measure of a person's worth. It suggests that it's not external appearances or societal judgments that define us, but rather the impact we make through our skills and the joy we bring to others. The metaphor of 'fiddling' symbolizes artistry and creativity, underscoring that what truly matters is the music—the essence of our passions and contributions—rather than how we present ourselves to the world.
Themes
MusicAcceptanceTalentJudgmentArtistry
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech highlighting the importance of skill over status.
More from Robert Fulghum
All quotes →If dandelions were rare and fragile, people would knock themselves out to pay $14.95 a plant, raise them by hand in greenhouses, and form dandelion societies and all that. But, they are everywhere and don't need us and kind of do what they please. So we call them weeds and murder them at every opportunity
Robert FulghumRead
We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness — and call it love — true love.
Robert FulghumRead
Peace is not something you wish for, it's something you make
Robert FulghumRead
Doing a straight-forward, clear-cut task that has a beginning and an end balances out the complexity-without-end that often vexes the rest of my life. Sacred simplicity.
Robert FulghumRead
The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. No, not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.
Robert FulghumRead
Similar quotes
Only photography has been able to divide human life _x000D_ into a series of moments, each of them has the value of a complete existence.
Eadweard MuybridgeRead
In fiction you're not often writing about the typical; you are interested in outliers, the points of interest. Part of it comes from feeling I was the only Asian or person of colour... another part comes from my personality: I'm an introvert, and my usual survival mode in a large group is to stand by a wall and watch everybody.
Celeste NgRead
The real test of a musician is live performance. It's one thing to spend a long time learning how to play well in the studio, but to do it in front of people is what keeps me coming back to touring.
Neil PeartRead
I refused to accept anything, doubted everything. So, doubting everything, I had to find something that had not existed before, something I had not thought of before. Any idea that came to me, the thing would be to turn it around and try to see it with another set of senses.
Marcel DuchampRead
You should make something. You should bring something into the world that wasn't in the world before. It doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter if it's a table or a film or gardening-everyone should create. You should do something, then sit back and say, 'I did that.'
Ricky GervaisRead
If you did not write every day, the poisons would accumulate and you would begin to die, or act crazy or both-you must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.
Ray BradburyRead