In the realm of comic strips, few stand as tall as Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, which ran a staggering 50 years from 1950 to 2000. Throughout its decades-long run — that’s nearly 18,000 daily strips, mind you — Peanuts introduced an ensemble cast that included Charlie Brown and Lucy van Pelt to the politically astute Linus van Pelt and Peppermint Patty. Even then, none of the cast demanded as much of the spotlight as Snoopy, the bipedal beagle always willing to offer advice whether it was good, bad, or otherwise.
Snoopy never spoke to the other characters (he is a dog, after all), but he did harbor human thoughts throughout the strip’s entire run, which Schulz conveyed to readers through the use of thought bubbles. The comic was never too serious, and Snoopy’s wisdom typically straddled the line of comedy and drama exceptionally well. He never took himself all so seriously while injecting some thought-provoking lines that would make you stop and reflect on the words he’d said.
Snoopy’s best Peanuts quote
None of Snoopy’s Peanuts moments embody who he is as a character more than the one released by Schulz on May 29, 1999. In it, the pooch is sitting atop his iconic doghouse alongside close confidant Woodstock. Together the two are looking at the sky as Snoopy opines, “Keep looking up…that’s the secret to life.” Because he’s looking up and all-too-close to the edge of the doghouse, Woodstock then tumbles off and out of view.
Snoopy then looks down to the ground before admitting, “I was wrong…that’s not the secret to life…” It’s a moment that perfectly exemplifies the simultaneous optimism and realism that was found in most Peanuts strips over its 50-year run. The sentiment is comically straightforward, coming from a character who spent much of his life literally staring upward from the roof of a doghouse, and that’s exactly why it works.
Snoopy’s world was filled with disappointment, rejection, rainy days, empty supper dishes, and novels nobody wanted to publish — but his answer was rarely to dwell on any of it for long, and to embrace the unexpected. As in life, hope for the best but brace yourself if things don’t pan out. It’s sound advice that’s been offered for ages, again by Charles Schulz in 1999, and it’s something that continues to ring true all these years later.