All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things

The short preface that opens the 25th Anniversary edition of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten reflects on the success of the original text and its theatrical adaptation. Fulghum writes with a sense of wonder about the reach of the book and affirms that he remains committed to the ideals in the essays.

“Credo,” as a short author’s note observes, is the original essay that inspired the collection and contains the list of wise sayings from the “sandpit,” beginning with “Share everything,” and ending with a reminder to stay close to others when out in the world. The writing of these credos, Fulghum writes, had been for him an annual tradition, though each year they seemed to get shorter as he got closer to the realization that the mind and spirit function best when fueled by fundamental truths—truths that he had known all along. This realization reinforces his belief in the value of simplicity and underscores a central theme of the broader work: that the foundational lessons we need to navigate life are often learned in childhood.