I believe in dreams. People should have faith in the songs poets sing.
E. B. WHITEA poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning.
More E. B. White Quotes
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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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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.
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I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.
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Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig. A small one to be sure, but nevertheless a pig. It just shows what can happen if a person gets out of bed promptly.
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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.
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Be obscure clearly! Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.
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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.
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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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You can dissect a joke just as you can a frog. But it tends to die on you.
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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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Stuart rose from the ditch, climbed into his car, and started up the road that led toward the north…As he peeked ahead into the great land that stretched before him, the way seemed long. But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction.
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A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning.
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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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Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake us and make us the gift of serenity and well-being, it will have to be the state of Something Good Happening.
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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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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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Use the smallest word that does the job.
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It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck.
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Writing is both mask and unveiling.
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In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty.
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The so-called science of poll-taking is not a science at all but mere necromancy. People are unpredictable by nature, and although you can take a nation’s pulse, you can’t be sure that the nation hasn’t just run up a flight of stairs.
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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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“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.
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Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.
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Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.
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We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.
E. B. WHITE