# 60 Years Later, the Best ‘Peanuts’ Quote of All Time Still Doesn’t Get the Credit it Deserves

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/60-years-later-the-best-peanuts-quote-of-all-time-still-doesnt-get-the-credit-it-deserves/
- Published: 2026-08-29T20:00:14+00:00
- Original publisher: Polygon
- Original article: https://www.polygon.com/charles-schulz-peanuts-best-quote/
- Topics: Gaming

## Key points

- Charlie Brown’s best quote is a plea to keep trying.
- It appeared in a 1966 spelling-bee storyline.
- The article calls it Schulz’s most overlooked piece of wisdom.

## Summary

The article argues that Charles Schulz’s most underappreciated Peanuts line is Charlie Brown’s defence of trying new things during a 1966 spelling-bee storyline: “What’s the good of living if you don’t try a few things?” It presents the quote as a simple but unusually profound expression of perseverance, especially fitting for Charlie Brown, whose efforts regularly end in disappointment.

The strip appeared on 3 February 1966, early in a 16-strip story in which Charlie Brown volunteers for a spelling bee but misspells “maze” as “m-a-y-s”. Schulz produced nearly 18,000 Peanuts strips over 50 years and retired shortly before his death in 2000; the storyline later informed the 1969 film A Boy Named Charlie Brown, although the quoted line was omitted.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.