I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.

Fulghum’s credo elevates the inner life—imagination, myth, dreams, hope, laughter, love—over the external authorities of knowledge, history, facts, and experience. The paired contrasts suggest that what sustains human beings is not merely what can be proven, but what can be envisioned and shared: stories that give meaning, hopes that outlast disappointment, and humor that metabolizes sorrow. The final claim, that love is stronger than death, frames the whole passage as an affirmation of enduring human connection: love persists through memory, influence, and the ways people continue one another’s lives. It reads as a secular benediction, insisting that emotional and moral truths can be more life-directing than empirical ones.