E. B. White Quotes

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
Only a person who is congenially self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays
E. B. WHITE

Central Congenially Effrontery Essay Only Person Self Stamina Write
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
Habitually creative people are prepared to be lucky.
E. B. WHITE

Creative Habitually Lucky People
Salutations; it’s just my fancy way of saying hello or good morning
E. B. WHITE

Fancy Good Morning Hello Just Say Solution Way
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
Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.
E. B. WHITE

Act Film Grammar Trick Write
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.
E. B. WHITE

Bad Happen Happening Most Much Nothing Peace People State Think
Be obscure clearly! Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.
E. B. WHITE

Clearly Obscure Tongue Understand Way Wild
I am still encouraged to go on. I wouldn’t know where else to go.
E. B. WHITE

Else Encourage Go Know Still Where
When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.
E. B. WHITE

Chance Far Have Make Only Say Something Sure
A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.
E. B. WHITE

Condition Ideal Paper Put Wait Without Word Work Writer
Semi-colons only prove that the author has been to college.
E. B. WHITE

Author Been College Color Only Prove Semi
There’s no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.
E. B. WHITE

Account Another Complicated Lead Limit Thing
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
The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.
E. B. WHITE

Clear Clearly Deal Good Main Make Reqrite Thing Write
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
People are, if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about being thought unjust.
E. B. WHITE

Anything Being More People Thought Touchy Unjust
From morning till night, sounds drift from the kitchen, most of them familiar and comforting. . . . On days when warmth is the most important need of the human heart, the kitchen is the place you can find it; it dries the wet sock, it cools the hot little brain.
E. B. WHITE

Comfort Familiar Kitchen Morning Most Night Sound Till
A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can’t get it by breeding for it, and you can’t buy it with money. It just happens along.
E. B. WHITE

Accident Companisoble Indispensable Nature Reality
Never hurry and never worry!
E. B. WHITE

Hurry never Worry
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
And then, just as Wilbur was settling down for his morning nap, he heard again the thin voice that had addressed him the night before. “Salutations!” said the voice. Wilbur jumped to his feet. “Salu-what?” he cried. “Salutations!” repeated the voice.
E. B. WHITE

Addresses Again Before Down Heard Just Morning Night People Settle Voice
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
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

Desire Editor Escape More Person Terrible Write Writer
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
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

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