"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere"
About this Quote
The subtext is a quiet permission slip. In Seuss’s universe, “funny” isn’t just jokes; it’s the weird, the misfit, the unexpectedly alive. The phrase teaches a mode of attention: if you move through the world expecting oddity, you’ll notice more of it, and you’ll be less threatened when it shows up. That matters in a mid-century American context that often prized conformity and clean narratives. Seuss, who had seen propaganda up close and later specialized in anti-didactic moral fables, repeatedly argued that imagination is not an escape hatch but a survival skill.
Form does the heavy lifting. The internal rhyme and mirroring clauses mimic walking in circles, then suddenly widen into a panoramic claim. It’s a toddler’s chant with a grown-up’s subversive edge: reality is crowded with the absurd, and your job isn’t to tidy it away, but to stay curious as you travel “there” and “here” and back again.
Quote Details
| Topic | Funny |
|---|---|
| Source | One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish — Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), Random House, 1960; rhyme includes the line "From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere." |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Seuss, Dr. (2026, January 17). From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/from-there-to-here-and-here-to-there-funny-things-30896/
Chicago Style
Seuss, Dr. "From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/from-there-to-here-and-here-to-there-funny-things-30896/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/from-there-to-here-and-here-to-there-funny-things-30896/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.









