Originally published in 1926, Winnie-the-Pooh provided a delightful escape for children in a world riddled with war. The charm of this storybook and its companion, The House at Pooh Corner, is in the simplicity of a young boy and his lovable companions, whose whimsical escapades have stood the test of time.
Nearly a century later, a bear named Pooh and his friends continue to delight. A. A. Milne’s lighthearted tales of love, friendship, and adventure,which he wrote for his young son, Christopher Robin, have warmed the hearts of children (and adults) around the globe. We’ve put together some classic quotes from our Pooh Bear library to help awaken the child within you.
Quotes on Love
Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner were written by a loving father for his young son—it only makes sense that love is a recurring theme. Throughout each collection of tales, numerous quotes capture the caring and affection Pooh and his friends share for one another. We’ve compiled some of our favorites.
1. “‘Pooh!’ he whispered. ‘Yes, Piglet?’ ‘Nothing,’ said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. ‘I just wanted to be sure of you.’”—A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
2. “Mind you don't get blown away, little Piglet. You'd be missed.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
3. “‘You're the Best Bear in All the World,’ said Christopher Robin soothingly.
‘Am I?’ said Pooh hopefully.” — A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
4. “‘Oh, Bear!’ said Christopher Robin. ‘How I do love you!’
‘So do I,’ said Pooh.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
5. "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." —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
Quotes About Life
A. A. Milne wrote Winnie-the-Pooh not simply to entertain his son, but to help explain the struggles of returning to normal life after World War I. As such, his tales contain lots of musings on life itself.
6. “You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” —Elizabeth Rudnick, Christopher Robin: The Novelization
7. “When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you 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 has other people looking at it.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
8. “And by-and-by Christopher Robin came to an end of the things, and was silent, and he sat there looking out over the world, and wishing it wouldn’t stop.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
9. "What I like doing best is Nothing.” ―A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
10. “How sweet to be a Cloud,
Floating in the Blue!
It makes him very proud,
To be a little cloud.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Quotes About Friendship
The friendships shared between Christopher Robin and his companions played a significant role in making the Winnie-the-Pooh stories universally loved. We picked some of our favorite quotes about friendship that are as sweet as Hunny.
11. “‘Eeyore,’ he said solemnly, ‘I, Winnie-the-Pooh, will find your tail for you.’ ‘Thank you, Pooh,’ answered Eeyore. ‘You’re a real friend.’” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
12. “Pooh is the favourite, of course, there’s no denying it, but Piglet comes in for a good many things which Pooh misses; because you can’t take Pooh to school without everybody knowing it, but Piglet is so small that he slips into a pocket, where it is very comforting to feel him when you are not quite sure whether twice seven is twelve or twenty-two.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
13. “So, with a nod of thanks to his friends, he went on with his walk through the forest, humming proudly to himself. But Christopher Robin looked after him lovingly, and said to himself, ‘Silly old Bear!’” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
14. “‘He has gone to see his friend Pooh Bear, who is a great friend of his.’ ‘But this is Me!’ said Bear, very much surprised.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
15. “It was time for Pooh and Piglet to go home together. At first as they stumped along the path which edged the Hundred Acre Wood, they didn’t say much to each other; but when they came to the stream, and had helped each other across the stepping stones, and were able to walk side by side again over the heather.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
16. “That, Piglet, is a very good idea. It is just what Eeyore wants to cheer him up. Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.” ―A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
17. “Thank you, Christopher Robin. You’re the only one who seems to understand about tails. They don’t think—that’s what’s the matter with some of these others. They’ve no imagination. A tail isn’t a tail to them, it’s just a Little Bit Extra at the back.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
18. “‘I’m very glad,’ said Pooh happily, ‘that I thought of giving you a Useful Pot to put things in.’ ‘I’m very glad,’ said Piglet happily, ‘that I thought of giving you Something to put in a Useful Pot.’ But Eeyore wasn’t listening. He was taking the balloon out, and putting it back again, as happy as could be.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
19. “Kanga and Roo stayed in the Forest. And every Tuesday Roo spent the day with his great friend Rabbit, and every Tuesday Kanga spent the day with her great friend Pooh, teaching him to jump, and every Tuesday Piglet spent the day with his great friend Christopher Robin. So they were all happy again.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
20. “And then he gave a very long sigh and said, ‘I wish Pooh were here. It’s so much more friendly with two.’” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
21. “So, they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
22. “Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
Quotes to Put a Smile on Your Face
Winnie-the-Pooh has been making us smile for nearly a hundred years. Whether it’s Pooh’s lovable misspellings or Piglet’s enthusiastic quips, here are some of our favorite funny quotes from that silly old Bear and his friends.
23. “I think that I have just remembered something. I have just remembered something that I forgot to do yesterday and shan't be able to do to-morrow. So I suppose I really ought to go back and do it now.” ―A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
24. “‘Why, what's happened to your tail?’ he said in surprise. ‘What has happened to it?’ said Eeyore. ‘It isn't there!...You must have left it somewhere,’ said Winnie-the-Pooh.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
25. “Well, either a tail is there or isn't there. You can't make a mistake about it. And yours isn't there!" ―A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
26. “Who found the Tail? ‘I,’ said Pooh, ‘At a quarter to two (Only it was quarter to eleven really), I found the Tail!’” ―A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
27. “They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're having them.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
28. “It's a very funny thought that, if Bears were Bees,
They'd build their nests at the bottom of trees.
And that being so (if the Bees were Bears),
We shouldn't have to climb up all these stairs.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
29. “‘When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you’re coming.’ Now if you have a green balloon, they might think you were only part of the tree, and not notice you, and if you have a blue balloon, they might think you were only part of the sky, and not notice you, and the question is: Which is most likely?”—A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
30. “‘Well,’ said Owl, ‘the customary procedure in such cases is as follows.’ ‘What does Crustimoney Proseedcake mean?’ said Pooh. ‘For I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me.’
‘It means the Thing to Do.’” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
31. “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.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
32. “‘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 to-day?’ said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. ‘It’s the same thing.’” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
33. “‘Good morning, Eeyore,’ said Pooh. ‘Good morning, Pooh Bear,’ said Eeyore gloomily. ‘If it is a good morning, which I doubt.’” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
34. “It was a drowsy summer afternoon, and the Forest was full of gentle sounds, which all seemed to be saying to Pooh, 'Don't listen to Rabbit, listen to me.' So he got in a comfortable position for not listening to Rabbit.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
35. “If anyone knows anything about anything... it’s Owl who knows something about something.” ―A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Quotes About Adventure
Whether on an expotition to the North, South, East, or West pole, the adventures of Christopher Robin and his friends became a fantastical world of possibility to a generation of children who grew up surrounded by war. Here are some of our favorite words from their adventures through the Hundred Acre Wood.
36. “Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big Boots, Pooh knew that an Adventure was going to happen.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
37. "‘Come on!’ ‘Where?’ said Pooh. ‘Anywhere,’ said Christopher Robin. —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
38. “‘We are all going on an Expedition,’ said Christopher Robin. ‘Going on an Expotition?’ said Pooh eagerly. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been on one of those. Where are we going to on this Expotition?’ ‘Expedition, silly old Bear. It’s got an ‘x’ in it.’ ‘Oh!’ said Pooh. ‘I know.’ But he didn’t really. —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
39. “They all went off to discover the Pole,
Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and all;
It’s a Thing you Discover, as I’ve been tole
By Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and all.
Eeyore, Christopher Robin and Pooh
And Rabbit’s relations all went too—
And where the Pole was none of them knew.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
40. “‘It is hard to be brave,’ said Piglet, sniffing slightly, ‘when you're only a Very Small Animal.’ Rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: ‘It is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us.’” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
41. “‘Without Pooh,’ said Rabbit, ‘the adventure would be impossible.’...Pooh went into a corner of the room and said proudly to himself, ‘Impossible without Me! That sort of Bear!’” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Quotes to Inspire and Encourage
Along with the whimsy, A. A. Milne’s writings were meant to inspire young people. Here are some memorable words of insight and encouragement from Pooh and his friends.
42. “It is the best way to write poetry, letting things come.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
43. “I do remember, only Pooh doesn’t very well, so that’s why he likes having it told to him again. Because then it’s a real story and not just a remembering.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
44. “When we asked Pooh what the opposite of an Introduction was, he said ‘The what of a what?’ which didn’t help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head and told us that the Opposite of an Introduction... was a Contradiction.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
45. “But, of course, it isn't really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be there...and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it.” —A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
46. “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
