black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but who has escaped the terrible desire to write.

E. B. White

Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They’ll believe anything they see in print.
E. B. WHITE

Belief Country Gullible People Person Print See Trust
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

Contemplate Country Eman People Person Place Second Sick Stomach
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

Charm Condition Desirable Devotees Fatal Local Nationalism Prepossess Self Sufficiency Two
There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter.
E. B. WHITE

Born City Computer Country First Man New Roughly Take Three Woman
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

Beauty Clear Dare Poet Remove Unzip
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

Practice Silly Think Thought Unjust Way Write
The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.
E. B. WHITE

Childhood Doorway Full Met Mind Open People Since World
Life’s meaning has always eluded me and I guess always will. But I love it just the same.
E. B. WHITE

Always Eluded Let Love Make Same
One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.
E. B. WHITE

Consume Enemy Great One Thing Time
Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can’t erase it.
E. B. WHITE

Cros Erase Life Like Pen Put Writing
Writing is hard work and bad for the health.
E. B. WHITE

Bad Hard Health Work Writing
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

Age Been Image Mental Myself never Nineteen Old Problem Shed Special
Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society – things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed.
E. B. WHITE

Bluffer Expression Great Guess Human Sailor Same Society True Weather
“What’s miraculous about a spider’s web?” said Mrs. Arable. “I don’t see why you say a web is a miracle–it’s just a web.” “Ever try to spin one?” asked Mr. Dorian.
E. B. WHITE

Ever Miraculous Say See Spider Try Web
The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest.
E. B. WHITE

Childish Essayist Everything Happen Liberate Self Sustain Think
The city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.
E. B. WHITE

City Country Day Each Locust Person Something Somewhere

An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but who has escaped the terrible desire to write.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but who has escaped the terrible desire to write.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More E. B. White Quotes