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There are two kinds of light – the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.

James Thurber

Humor and pathos, tears and laughter are, in the highest expression of human character and achievement, inseparable.
JAMES THURBER

Achievement Character Expression Humor Laughter Separate
With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs.
JAMES THURBER

Definite Development Face Myself Structure
Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.
JAMES THURBER

Chaos Emotional Humor Remember Tranquility
Don’t get it right, just get it written.
JAMES THURBER

Right Writing
Things have dropped from me. I have outlived certain desires; I have lost friends, some by death… others through sheer inability to cross the street.
JAMES THURBER

Cross Desire Friendship Lost Street
The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they’ve been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy.
JAMES THURBER

Laughter People Tragedy
Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more.
JAMES THURBER

Understand Wisdom Woman Yourself
Don’t count your boobies until they are hatched.
JAMES THURBER

Body Count Patience Yourself
Somebody has said that woman’s place is in the wrong. That’s fine. What the wrong needs is a woman’s presence and a woman’s touch. She is far better equipped than men to set it right.
JAMES THURBER

Place Presence Right Woman Wrong
Progress was all right. Only it went on too long.
JAMES THURBER

Progress Right Time
Two is company, four is a party, three is a crowd. One is a wanderer.
JAMES THURBER

Company Crowd Party Travel Wanderer
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
JAMES THURBER

Answer Better Known Question
Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
JAMES THURBER

Call Myself Number Phone Wrong Yourself
The nation that complacently and fearfully allows its artists and writers to become suspected rather than respected is no longer regarded as a nation possessed with humor or depth.
JAMES THURBER

Allow Fear Humor Nation Possession Regard Suspect Writing
I never really rallied after the birth of my first child.
JAMES THURBER

Born Children Myself
Comedy has to be done en clair. You can’t blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.
JAMES THURBER

Clear Comedy Famous Imagination Point

There are two kinds of light – the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.

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There are two kinds of light – the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.

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Popular Authors

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