"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… — E. B. White Miracle Copy Share Image
There is a period near the beginning of every man's life when he has little to cling to except his unmanageable dream,… — E. B. White Dream Copy Share Image
Diplomacy is the lowest form of politeness because it misquotes the greatest number of people. A nation, like an individual, if it… — E. B. White Courtesy Copy Share Image
When I was a child people simply looked about them and were moderately happy; today they peer beyond the seven seas, bury… — E. B. White Children Copy Share Image
A man who publishes his letters becomes a nudist - nothing shields him from the world's gaze except his bare skin. A… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
The H-bomb rather favors small nations that doesn't as yet possess it; they feel slightly more free to jostle other nations, having… — E. B. White Bombs Copy Share Image
The essayist . . . can pull on any sort of shirt, be any sort of person, according to his mood or… — E. B. White Confidant Copy Share Image
Security, for me, took a tumble not when I read that there were Communists in Hollywood but when I read your editorial… — E. B. White Communist Copy Share Image
Delay is natural to a writer. He is like a surfer-he bides his time, waits for the perfect wave on which to… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
As in the sexual experience, there are never more than two persons present in the act of reading-the writer, who is the… — E. B. White Books Copy Share Image
The bonus is really one of the great give-aways in business enterprise. It is the annual salve applied to the conscience of… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
In the nature of things, a person engaged in the flimsy business of expressing himself on paper is dependent on the large… — E. B. White Business Copy Share Image
By comparison with other less hectic days, the city is unconfortable and inconvenient; but New Yorkers tempramentally do not crave comfort and… — E. B. White Cities Copy Share Image
Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig. A small… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation; and better than most dense communities it succeeds in insulating… — E. B. White Community Copy Share Image
America is now liberty-conscious. In a single generation it has progressed from being toothbrush-conscious, to being air-minded, to being liberty-conscious. — E. B. White Copy Share Image
In a sense the world dies every time a writer dies, because, if he is any good, he has been a wet… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
It is Sunday, mid-morning-Sunday in the living room, Sunday in the kitchen, Sunday in the woodshed, Sunday down the road in the… — E. B. White Bells Copy Share Image
Don Marquis came down after a month on the wagon, ambled over to the bar, and announced, 'I've conquered that goddamn willpower… — E. B. White Alcohol Copy Share Image
Einstein is loved because he is gentle, respected because he is wise. Relativity being not for most of us, we elevate its… — E. B. White Books Copy Share Image
Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
I have occasionally had the exquisite thrill of putting my finger on a little capsule of truth, and heard it give the… — E. B. White Adventure Copy Share Image
All poets who, when reading from their own works,m experience a choked feeling, are major. For that matter, all poets who read… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
Much of our adult morality, in books and out of them, has a stuffiness unworthy of childhood. Our grown-up conclusions often rest… — E. B. White Adults Copy Share Image
It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with the garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you… — E. B. White Book Copy Share Image
I have a spaniel that defrocked a nun last week. He took hold of the cord. I had hold of the leash.… — E. B. White Animal Copy Share Image
I can still see my first dog. For six years he met me at the same place after school and convoyed me… — E. B. White After school Copy Share Image
Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
I am often mad, but I would hate to be nothing but mad: and I think I would lose what little value… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
The so-called science of poll-taking is not a science at all but mere necromancy. People are unpredictable by nature, and although you… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
A “fraternity” is the antithesis offraternity. The first (that is, the order or organization) is predicated on the idea of exclusion; the… — E. B. White Abstract Copy Share Image
A man must have something to cling to. Without that he is as a pea vine sprawling in search of a trellis…… — E. B. White Beauty Copy Share Image
“I find it very disturbing to be advertised, as I have noticed that it is the advertised authors that stink. I am… — E. B. White Books Copy Share Image
Nauseous. Nauseated. The first means "sickening to contemplate"; the second means "sick at the stomach." Do not, therefore, say "I feel nauseous,"… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
In order to read one must sit down, usually indoors. I am restless and would rather sail a boat than crack a… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
If sometimes there seems to be a sort of sameness of sound in The New Yorker, it probably can be traced to… — E. B. White Copy Share Image
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving he can outwit nature and… — E. B. White Bright future Copy Share Image
