An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but who has escaped the terrible desire to write.
E. B. WHITEThere is nothing harder to estimate than a writer’s time, nothing harder to keep track of. There are moments—moments of sustained creation—when his time is fairly valuable; and there are hours and hours when a writer’s time isn’t worth the paper he is not writing anything on.
More E. B. White Quotes
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I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. “Never worry about your heart till it stops beating.
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Use the smallest word that does the job.
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Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom.
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A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.
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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?
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I believe in dreams. People should have faith in the songs poets sing.
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Semi-colons only prove that the author has been to college.
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It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck.
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A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. … A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy: true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down.
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Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
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No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.
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A right is a responsibility in reverse.
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Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.’ ‘You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.
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Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can’t erase it.
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Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They’ll believe anything they see in print.
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I am always humbled by the infite ingenuity of the Lord, who can make a red barn cast a blue shadow.
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Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.
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The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.
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“What are they, and where are you?” screamed Wilbur. “Please, please, tell me where you are. And what are salutations?” “Salutations are greetings,” said the voice. “When I say ‘salutations,’ it’s just my fancy way of saying hello or good morning.
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It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.
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Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.
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All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.
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A schoolchild should be taught grammar-for the same reason that a medical student should study anatomy.
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Reading is the work of the alert mind, is demanding, and under ideal conditions produces finally a sort of ecstasy.
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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.
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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