Man is troubled by what might be called the Dog Wish, a strange and involved compulsion to be as happy and carefree as a dog.
JAMES THURBERThere is something about a poet which leads us to believe that he died, in many cases, as long as 20 years before his birth.
More James Thurber Quotes
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I never quite know when I’m not writing. Sometimes my wife comes up to me at a party and says, “Dammit, Thurber, stop writing.” She usually catches me in the middle of a paragraph.
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Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.
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Humourists lead… an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats.
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For one thing, she pronounced flowers ‘flars’ and I couldn’t let it slide.
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The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they’ve been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy.
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There are two kinds of light – the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.
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I always begin at the left with the opening word of the sentence and read toward the right and I recommend this method.
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A burden in the bush is worth two on your hands.
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All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.
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There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.
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Progress was all right. Only it went on too long.
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Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.
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Don’t get it right, just get it written.
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I can feel a thing I cannot touch and touch a thing I cannot feel. The first is sad and sorry, the second is your heart.
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Comedy has to be done en clair. You can’t blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.
JAMES THURBER






