“Happiness is a warm puppy.”
That’s the greatest-ever quote about Snoopy. It’s from the Peanuts comic strip that ran on April 25, 1960, and while you might assume Charlie Brown would be the one to say it, being that he’s Snoopy’s owner, it’s Lucy who utters the profound little phrase.
It’s a simple comic. Lucy just walks up to Snoopy, pats him on the head, gives him a hug and, as she’s walking away, she says to herself, “Happiness is a warm puppy.”
So true.
But to determine the best quote ever uttered by Snoopy himself is a much different task. For one thing, you may be wondering “Does Snoopy even talk?”
Kind of, but kind of not.
If you’re mostly familiar with the Peanuts gang through their movies and TV specials, you’ve probably never heard Snoopy talk, because he usually doesn’t in those formats. However, in the Peanuts comic strip, he talks to himself via thought bubbles, much like Garfield does in his own comic strip. Nobody can ever hear the dog, but he does have stuff to say and Charles Schulz often used Snoopy to dispense thoughtful bits of wisdom.
Here are the five greatest Snoopy quotes that prove just how wise a beagle can be.
5
Snoopy’s best alter ego
Snoopy had a handful of different personas, like the undeniably suave “Joe Cool” and the fearsome wrestler “The Masked Marvel,” but his greatest alter ego was the World War I Flying Ace. In his leather flight helmet and his goggles, Snoopy would sit atop his doghouse and imagine himself as a masterful pilot during the Great War, who was hunting down the fearsome Red Baron. As such, I think Snoopy’s five greatest quotes should include something from his beloved Flying Ace comics, so I’m going with this as a bit of a stand-in for all of them:
“Here’s the World War I Flying Ace posing beside his ‘Sopwith Camel’…”
4
His first words
This isn’t so much one of the best Snoopy quotes as it is one of the most important ones — if not the most important one. On May 27, 1952, Charles Schulz had Snoopy speak for the first time. In the comic strip, Charlie Brown cheerfully walks up to Snoopy, touches Snoopy’s ear and says, “Kind of warm out today for ear muffs, isn’t it?” In response, Snoopy thinks to himself the following:
“Why do I have to suffer such indignities!?”
It’s a minor joke, but it had major implications for the character. For the first two years of Peanuts, Snoopy didn’t speak in any capacity, but then Charles Schulz published this comic, which gave Snoopy a voice and more of a personality. It also gave Schulz more to work with regarding the character. From this point on, Snoopy would talk regularly, as there was no going back.
3
Sleep on it
Peanuts was often a thoughtful comic strip, as Charles Schulz’s soulful characters would dispense really deep observations about life, often accidentally. While the characters were mostly children, there was something funny about having them talk like little adults and sometimes the characters would say something with a wisdom beyond their years.
But with Snoopy, Schulz seemed to drop the pretense of “accidental wisdom” and go straight for it, as though he believed a dog could more credibly convey insight than a child could. It makes no sense, yet somehow it just feels right and this piece of advice, which advises people to think and reconsider before they act, is a perfect example:
“If you think about something at three o’clock in the morning and then again at noon the next day, you get different answers.”
2
Profound words
This Feb. 1959 comic strip features Snoopy barking repeatedly for two panels straight. Then he gives up and mutters to himself “I guess I’d better be quiet.” After he lies down, he thinks to himself:
“There’s no sense in doing a lot of barking if you don’t really have anything to say.”
This is also incredibly good advice for people to follow. If you don’t actually have anything worthwhile to say, it’s best to just stop talking.
1
Not a bad way to live your life
In November 1978, Charles Schulz published what could reasonably be called Snoopy’s philosophy on life:
“Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Look to tomorrow. Rest this afternoon.”
This quote is funny, playful, adorable, and incredibly wise. The world would be a better place if we all lived like Snoopy.
