Semi-colons only prove that the author has been to college.
E. B. WHITEUnderstanding humor is like dissecting a live frog. It can be done, but the frog tends to die in the process.
More E. B. White Quotes
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Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.
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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.
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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.
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In a man’s middle years there is scarcely a part of the body he would hesitate to turn over to the proper authorities.
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In every queen there’s a touch of floozy.
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Geese are friends to no one, they bad mouth everybody and everything. But they are companionable once you get used to their ingratitude and false accusations.
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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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Life’s meaning has always eluded me and I guess always will. But I love it just the same.
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Be obscure clearly! Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.
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Understanding humor is like dissecting a live frog. It can be done, but the frog tends to die in the process.
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Mother: It’s broccoli, dear. — Child: I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it.
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A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning.
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The rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything
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Use the smallest word that does the job.
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There is hardly a waiting room in the east that has not served as my cockpit, whether I was waiting to board a train or to see a dentist. And I am usually still trimming sheets when the train starts or drill begins to whine.
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Oh, I never look under the hood.
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I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
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I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.
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When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.
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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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“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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Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can’t erase it.
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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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A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.
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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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There’s no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.
E. B. WHITE