Did you know that today would have been Shel Silverstein’s 84th birthday? Silverstein was one of my favorite authors growing up, writing such works of art as Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic and The Giving Tree.

He certainly had a lot of wisdom to impart on people young and old, so let’s take a look at some of his most inspirational and motivational quotes:

1. “Never explain what you do. It speaks for itself. You only muddle it by talking about it.”
2. “I think if you’re a creative person, you should just go about your business, do your work, and not care about how it is received.”
3. “Don’t be dependent on anyone else. I want to go everywhere, look at, and listen to everything. You can go crazy with some of the wonderful stuff there is in life.”
4. “The young people have no patience with craftsmanship anymore. They think, therefore they am. It’s not enough. You don’t think, therefore you are. You do, therefore you are, or else you aren’t.”
5. “There is a voice inside of you, that whispers all day long, I feel this is right for me, I know that this is wrong.”
6. “All the magic I have known, I’ve had to make myself.”
7. “And all the colors I am inside have not been invented yet.”