--- title: "10 May Quotes By E. B. White" description: "10 May quotes by E. B. White. Plus more from E. B. White and more May sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f17/e-b-white-1448_business_in-the-nature-of-things-a-person-engaged_2638165.png" --- > [In the nature of things, a person engaged in the flimsy business of expressing himself on paper is dependent on the large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/in-the-nature-of-things-a-person-engaged-in-the-flimsy-business-of/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f17/e-b-white-1448_business_in-the-nature-of-things-a-person-engaged_2638165.png) > [A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there in a book, you may have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/a-library-is-a-good-place-to-go-when-you-feel-bewildered-or-undecided/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/277/e-b-white-1448_bewildered_a-library-is-a-good-place-to-go-when-you_619087.png) > [As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/as-long-as-there-is-one-upright-man-as-long-as-there-is-one/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/16a/e-b-white-1448_bad-time_as-long-as-there-is-one-upright-man-as-l_895981.png) > [I am often mad, but I would hate to be nothing but mad: and I think I would lose what little value…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/i-am-often-mad-but-i-would-hate-to-be-nothing-but-mad-and-i-think-i/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca7/e-b-white-1448_accepting_i-am-often-mad-but-i-would-hate-to-be-no_303926.png) > [A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/a-library-is-a-good-place-to-go-when-you-feel-unhappy-for-there-in-a/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d72/e-b-white-1448_alive_a-library-is-a-good-place-to-go-when-you_2396294.jpg) > [There is no satisfactory explanation of style, no infallible guide to good writing, no assurance that a person who thinks clearly will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/there-is-no-satisfactory-explanation-of-style-no-infallible-guide-to/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/530/e-b-white-1448_able_there-is-no-satisfactory-explanation-of_2637974.png) > [Television hangs on the questionable theory that whatever happens anywhere should be sensed everywhere. If everyone is going to be able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/television-hangs-on-the-questionable-theory-that-whatever-happens/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/210/e-b-white-1448_able_television-hangs-on-the-questionable-the_352003.jpg) > [Of course, it may be that the arts of writing and photography are antithetical. The hope and aim of a word-handler is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/of-course-it-may-be-that-the-arts-of-writing-and-photography-are/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae1/e-b-white-1448_aim_of-course-it-may-be-that-the-arts-of-wri_2026589.png) > [Liberals are like dogs: The liberal holds that he is true to the republic when he is true to himself. (It may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/liberals-are-like-dogs-the-liberal-holds-that-he-is-true-to-the/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/912/e-b-white-1448_attitude_liberals-are-like-dogs-the-liberal-holds_2650642.png) > [The Supreme Court said nothing about silliness, but I suspect it may play more of a role than one might suppose. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-supreme-court-said-nothing-about-silliness-but-i-suspect-it-may/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/261/e-b-white-1448_chains_the-supreme-court-said-nothing-about-sil_2309073.jpg) ## Other authors on May ## More by E. B. White > [Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/writing-is-an-act-of-faith-not-a-trick-of-grammar/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [“To hear, in the short space of one week, a Scottish terrier booed by an audience and President Roosevelt criticized by Charles Lindbergh was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/to-hear-in-the-short-space-of-one-week-a-scottish-terrier-booed-by-an/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The sea answers all questions, and always in the same way; for when you read in the papers the interminable discussions and the bickering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-sea-answers-all-questions-and-always-in-the-same-way-for-when-you/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation; and better than most dense communities it succeeds in insulating the individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/new-york-blends-the-gift-of-privacy-with-the-excitement-of/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The terror of the atom age is not the violence of the new power but the speed of man's adjustment to it, the speed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-terror-of-the-atom-age-is-not-the-violence-of-the-new-power-but/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [When my wife's Aunt Caroline was in her nineties, she lived with us, and she once remarked: 'Remembrance is sufficient of the beauty we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/when-my-wife-s-aunt-caroline-was-in-her-nineties-she-lived-with-us/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/sailors-have-an-expression-about-the-weather-they-say-the-weather-is/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/anyone-who-writes-down-to-children-is-simply-wasting-his-time-you/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the duty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/a-writer-should-concern-himself-with-whatever-absorbs-his-fancy-stirs/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/every-morning-i-awake-torn-between-a-desire-to-save-the-world-and-an/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [I seldom went to bed before two or three o'clock in the morning, on the theory that if anything of interest were to happen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/i-seldom-went-to-bed-before-two-or-three-o-clock-in-the-morning-on/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Necessity first mothered invention. Now invention has little ones of her own, and they look just like grandma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/necessity-first-mothered-invention-now-invention-has-little-ones-of/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The bonus is really one of the great give-aways in business enterprise. It is the annual salve applied to the conscience of the rich…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-bonus-is-really-one-of-the-great-give-aways-in-business/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [There's no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/there-s-no-limit-to-how-complicated-things-can-get-on-account-of-one/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The critic leaves at curtain fall To find, in starting to review it, He scarcely saw the play at all For starting to review…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-critic-leaves-at-curtain-fall-to-find-in-starting-to-review-it-he/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/e-b-white/#itemlist", "name": "10 May Quotes By E. B. White", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In the nature of things, a person engaged in the flimsy business of expressing himself on paper is dependent on the large general privilege of being heard. Any intimation that this privilege may be revoked throws a writer into panic.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "E. B. 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If everyone is going to be able to see everything, in the long run all sights may lose whatever rarity value they once possessed, and it may well turn out that people, being able to see and hear practically everything, will be specially interested in almost nothing.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "E. B. White" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/television-hangs-on-the-questionable-theory-that-whatever-happens/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/210/e-b-white-1448_able_television-hangs-on-the-questionable-the_352003.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/210/e-b-white-1448_able_television-hangs-on-the-questionable-the_352003.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/210/e-b-white-1448_able_television-hangs-on-the-questionable-the_352003.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Television hangs on the questionable theory that whatever happens anywhere should be sensed everywhere. If…” — E. B. White", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Of course, it may be that the arts of writing and photography are antithetical. The hope and aim of a word-handler is that he maycommunicate a thought or an impression to his reader without the reader's realizing that he has been dragged through a series of hazardous or grotesque syntactical situations. In photography the goal seems to be to prove beyond a doubt that the cameraman, in his great moment of creation, was either hanging by his heels from the rafters or was wedged under the floor with his lens in a knothole.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "E. B. 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(It may not be as cozy an attitude as it sounds.) He greets with enthusiasm the fact of the journey, as a dog greets a man's invitation to take a walk. And he acts in the dog's way too, swinging wide, racing ahead, doubling back, covering many miles of territory that the man never traverses, all in the spirit of inquiry and the zest for truth. He leaves a crazy trail, but he ranges far beyond the genteel old party he walks with and he is usually in a better position to discover a skunk.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "E. B. White" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/liberals-are-like-dogs-the-liberal-holds-that-he-is-true-to-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/912/e-b-white-1448_attitude_liberals-are-like-dogs-the-liberal-holds_2650642.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/912/e-b-white-1448_attitude_liberals-are-like-dogs-the-liberal-holds_2650642.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/912/e-b-white-1448_attitude_liberals-are-like-dogs-the-liberal-holds_2650642.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Liberals are like dogs: The liberal holds that he is true to the republic when he is true to himself. (It…” — E. B. White", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The Supreme Court said nothing about silliness, but I suspect it may play more of a role than one might suppose. People are, if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about being thought unjust... Probably the first slave ship, with Negroes lying in chains on its decks, seemed commonsensical to the owners who operated it and to the planters who patronized it. But such a vessel would not be in the realm of common sense today. The only sense that is common, in the long run, is the sense of change.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "E. B. 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