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.