black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education – sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across the street.

E. B. White

The whole duty of a writer is to please and satisfy himself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one.
E. B. WHITE

Audience Duty Himself True One Play Pleasure Satisfy Whole Writer
Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom.
E. B. WHITE

Freedom Oood Prefer Safety Well
I have one share in corporate Earth, and I am nervous about the management.
E. B. WHITE

Corporate Earth Management Nervous
“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
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
Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.
E. B. WHITE

Car Else Everything Life Somewhere
If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.
E. B. WHITE

Anything Beter Good Man Most Obsessed Perhaps Something Suppose
I don’t know which is more discouraging, literature or chickens.
E. B. WHITE

Chicken Discourage Know Literature More
Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
E. B. WHITE

Crack Found Genius More One Whole
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
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.
E. B. WHITE

Bright Feel Future Less Man More Nature Optimistic Outwit Prove Spent Time
Use the smallest word that does the job.
E. B. WHITE

Job Smallest Use Word
I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. “Never worry about your heart till it stops beating.
E. B. WHITE

About Advice Beat Neighbour Remind Stop Till Worry
When I get sick of what men do, I have only to walk a few steps in another direction to see what spiders do. Or what the weather does. This sustains me very well indeed.
E. B. WHITE

Another Direction Do Get Men Only Sick Spider Step Walk
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 Men Most Secret Women World
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
Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people– people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.
E. B. WHITE

Alive Book Company Good Hiding Manage People Sad Stay Times
I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.
E. B. WHITE

Admire All Anybody Anything Gut Want Write
A writer’s style reveals something of his spirit, his habits, his capacites, his bias…it is the Self escaping into the open.
E. B. WHITE

Bias Capacities Escape Habit Open Reveal Self Something Style Writer
Extreme cold when it first arrives seems to generate cheerfulness and sociability. For a few hours all life’s dubious problems are dropped in favor of the clear and congenial task of keeping alive.
E. B. WHITE

Arrive Cold Extreme First General Life Problem Seem Sociability Subilious
Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
E. B. WHITE

Fact Form Get Great Opinion Prejudice Saver Time
A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning.
E. B. WHITE

Add Compress Heihhening Mean Much Music Poem Small Space
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.
E. B. WHITE

Awake Born Desire Every Inclination Morning Save Savor World
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
E. B. WHITE

Compunction Conscience Consideration Decency Kindness Milk Moral Rat Rodent Scruples
To achieve style, begin by affecting none.
E. B. WHITE

Archive Being Effect None Style
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.
E. B. WHITE

Bad Companionable Everybody Everything Friend Geese Get Mouth Use
It is Sunday, mid-morning-Sunday in the living room, Sunday in the kitchen, Sunday in the woodshed, Sunday down the road in the village: I hear the bells, calling me to share God’s grace.
E. B. WHITE

Kitchen Living Morning Room Sunday Woodshed

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education – sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across the street.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education – sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across the street.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More E. B. White Quotes