E. B. White Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself - a lad of about 19.

  E. B. White

  Birthday, Special, Age

  17 Copy quote

• Nauseous. Nauseated. The first means "sickening to contemplate"; the second means "sick at the stomach." Do not, therefore, say "I feel nauseous," unless you are sure you have that effect on others.

  E. B. White

  Mean, Sick, Firsts

  "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk, Jr., E. B. White (Ch. IV), 1972.

  31 Copy quote

• In a man's middle years there is scarcely a part of the body he would hesitate to turn over to the proper authorities.

  E. B. White

  Men, Years, Age

  The Second Tree from the Corner 'A Weekend with the Angels'

  34 Copy quote

• A poet dares be just so clear and no clearer... He unzips the veil from beauty, but does not remove it. A poet utterly clear is a trifle glaring.

  E. B. White

  Poetry, Doe, Veils

  E. B. White (2011). “In the Words of E.B. White: Quotations from America's Most Companionable of Writers”, p.164, Cornell University Press

  12 Copy quote

• All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.

  E. B. White

  Inspiring, Book, Writing

  E. B. White (2011). “In the Words of E.B. White: Quotations from America's Most Companionable of Writers”, p.76, Cornell University Press

  10 Copy quote

• Loneliness is a strange gift.

  E. B. White

  Life, Loneliness, Strange

  6 Copy quote

• Writing is both mask and unveiling.

  E. B. White

  Inspirational, Life, Writing

  E. B. White (1989). “The Letters of E. B. White”, Perennial

  17 Copy quote

• Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess always will. But I love it just the same.

  E. B. White

  Life, Justice

  E. B. White (1989). “The Letters of E. B. White”, Perennial

  9 Copy quote

• When an American family becomes separated from its toothbrushes and combs and pajamas for a few hours it considers that it has had quite an adventure.

  E. B. White

  Adventure, Pajamas, Hours

  13 Copy quote

• I am still encouraged to go on. I wouldn't know where else to go.

  E. B. White

  Goes On, Stills, Knows

  "Writers at Work". Interview with George Plimpton, Frank Crowther in Paris Review, 1969.

  7 Copy quote

• There is nothing more likely to start disagreement among people or countries than an agreement.

  E. B. White

  Country, Agreement, People

  33 Copy quote

• The trouble with the profit system has always been that it was highly unprofitable to most people.

  E. B. White

  Business, People, Diversity

  7 Copy quote

• Only a person who is congenially self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays

  E. B. White

  Writing, Self, Stamina

  9 Copy quote

• Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together-just the two of you.

  E. B. White

  Book, Reading, Men

  10 Copy quote

• We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.

  E. B. White

  Running, Wine, Long

  E. B. White (1989). “The Letters of E. B. White”, Perennial

  58 Copy quote

• Good deeds never go unpunished.

  E. B. White

  Deeds, Good Deeds

  8 Copy quote

• Be obscure clearly! Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.

  E. B. White

  Way, Tongue, Obscure

  E. B. White (2011). “In the Words of E.B. White: Quotations from America's Most Companionable of Writers”, p.191, Cornell University Press

  9 Copy quote

• Nationalism has two fatal charms for its devotees: It presupposes local self-sufficiency, which is a pleasant and desirable condition, and it suggests, very subtly, a certain personal superiority by reason of one's belonging to a place which is definable and familiar, as against a place that is strange, remote.

  E. B. White

  Two, Self, Strange

  7 Copy quote

• Reading is the work of the alert mind, is demanding, and under ideal conditions produces finally a sort of ecstasy.

  E. B. White

  Reading, Mind, Produce

  E. B. White (2011). “In the Words of E.B. White: Quotations from America's Most Companionable of Writers”, p.171, Cornell University Press

  54 Copy quote

• Writing is one way to go about thinking, and the practice and habit of writing not only drain the mind but supply it, too.

  E. B. White

  Writing, Thinking, Practice

  William Strunk, Jr., E. B. White (1972). “The Elements of Style”

  6 Copy quote

• Before the seed there comes the thought of bloom.

  E. B. White

  Cutting, Seeds

  10 Copy quote

• You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.

  E. B. White

  Life, Heaven, Trying

  51 Copy quote

• Use the smallest word that does the job.

  E. B. White

  Jobs, Writing, Doe

  38 Copy quote

• Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth.... Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words and they backhand them across the net.

  E. B. White

  Children, Writing, Games

  38 Copy quote

• You can dissect a joke just as you can a frog. But it tends to die on you.

  E. B. White

  Frogs, Jokes, Dies

  6 Copy quote

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