--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If a playwright tried to see eye to eye…" description: "\"If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he would get the worst case of strabismus since Hannibal lost an eye trying to count his ninete..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09a/james-thurber-1534_alps_if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye_2741534.jpg" --- # If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he… ![“If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he would get the worst case of strabismus since Hannibal lost an eye trying to count his nineteen elephants during a snowstorm while crossing the Alps.” quote by James Thurber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09a/james-thurber-1534_alps_if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye_2741534.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09a/james-thurber-1534_alps_if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye_2741534.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09a/james-thurber-1534_alps_if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye_2741534.jpg) > “If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he would get the worst case of strabismus since Hannibal lost an eye trying to count his nineteen elephants during a snowstorm while crossing the Alps.” [James Thurber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-thurber/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Trying to please everyone leads to distortion and loss of focus. **In simple terms:** Seeking universal approval causes confusion. Key Takeaway Aim for clarity, not universal approval. Themes creativity conflict perspective focus Mood wry humorous Type satirical philosophical When to use this quote - theatre - writing - team meetings - policy making - public speaking Key Concepts absurdism human folly Questions to Reflect On - Who truly needs your approval? - When is compromise beneficial? A Different Perspective Universal agreement is impossible and stifles originality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alps/) [Cases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cases/) [Crossings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crossings/) [Elephants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elephants/) [Eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eye/) [Eye to eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eye-to-eye/) [Hannibal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hannibal/) [Hannibal Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hannibal-lost-3030559/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lost/) [Nineteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nineteen/) [Playwright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/playwright/) [Playwright Tried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/playwright-tried-3030561/) [Snowstorms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/snowstorms/) [Strabismus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strabismus-3030560/) [Strabismus Hannibal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strabismus-hannibal-3030558/) [Theater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theater/) [Theatre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theatre/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Worst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worst/) ## Related quotes > [“Spalatin asked Luther what he thought of long engagements. He replied, "Don't put off till tomorrow! By delay Hannibal lost Rome. By delay Esau…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-bainton/spalatin-asked-luther-what-he-thought-of-long-engagements-he-replied/) [Roland Bainton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-bainton/) > [There's always another storm. It's the way the world works. Snowstorms, rainstorms, windstorms, sandstorms, and firestorms. Some are fierce and others are small. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-v-snyder/there-s-always-another-storm-it-s-the-way-the-world-works-snowstorms/) [Maria V. Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-v-snyder/) > [When some portion of the biosphere is rather unpopular with the human race-a crocodile, a dandelion, a stony valley, a snowstorm, an odd-shaped flint-there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-midgley/when-some-portion-of-the-biosphere-is-rather-unpopular-with-the-human/) [Mary Midgley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-midgley/) > [At any particular moment in a man's life, he can say that everything he has done and not done, that has been done and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-least-heat-moon/at-any-particular-moment-in-a-man-s-life-he-can-say-that-everything/) [William Least Heat-Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-least-heat-moon/) > [Floating in the void free of gravity I made my way along the side of the ship. I listened to my own breaths. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisabeth-eaves/floating-in-the-void-free-of-gravity-i-made-my-way-along-the-side-of/) [Elisabeth Eaves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisabeth-eaves/) > [When I was a child... I was watching a snowstorm, and hopefully asked, 'Momma, do we believe in winter?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/when-i-was-a-child-i-was-watching-a-snowstorm-and-hopefully-asked/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [Acting is like a snowstorm or perhaps a large empty vacuum. I'm not deluded by the fact that I'm getting all these offers for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-lee/acting-is-like-a-snowstorm-or-perhaps-a-large-empty-vacuum-i-m-not/) [Christopher Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-lee/) > [For many years I was a self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms and did my duty faithfully, though I never received payment for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/for-many-years-i-was-a-self-appointed-inspector-of-snowstorms-and/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [I think we are bound to, and by, nature. We may want to deny this connection and try to believe we control the external…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/i-think-we-are-bound-to-and-by-nature-we-may-want-to-deny-this/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) > [We had an electrical fault about 500 miles into the trip and lost more than half our fuel. We had a fire on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/we-had-an-electrical-fault-about-500-miles-into-the-trip-and-lost/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) > [A student undergoing a word association test was asked why a snowstorm put him in mind of sex. He replied frankly: "Because everything does."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-tracy/a-student-undergoing-a-word-association-test-was-asked-why-a/) [Honor Tracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-tracy/) > [After a snowstorm is the best time to be in the woods, because all the empty beer and soda cans and candy wrappers disappear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-rifka-brunt/after-a-snowstorm-is-the-best-time-to-be-in-the-woods-because-all-the/) [Carol Rifka Brunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-rifka-brunt/) > [My teenage children watched Senator Clinton on the Today Show, mouths agape. They attended our local caucus with me and saw hundreds of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shoshana-zuboff/my-teenage-children-watched-senator-clinton-on-the-today-show-mouths/) [Shoshana Zuboff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shoshana-zuboff/) > [It's easy to love the snow because at the end of every snowstorm it's as if the world has started over. There is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-mcmahon/it-s-easy-to-love-the-snow-because-at-the-end-of-every-snowstorm-it-s/) [Andrew McMahon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-mcmahon/) > [In a way, I'd rather ride down the street on a camel than give what is sometimes called an in-depth interview. I'd rather ride…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-beatty/in-a-way-i-d-rather-ride-down-the-street-on-a-camel-than-give-what-is/) [Warren Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-beatty/) ## More by James Thurber > [ Salvador \[Dali\] was brought up in Spain, a country colored by the legends of Hannibal, El Greco, and Cervantes. 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When these things are raised to a high point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-thurber/humor-does-not-include-sarcasm-invalid-irony-sardonicism-innuendo-or/) [James Thurber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-thurber/) > [Where most of us end up there is no knowing, but the hellbent get where they are going.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-thurber/where-most-of-us-end-up-there-is-no-knowing-but-the-hellbent-get/) [James Thurber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-thurber/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-thurber/comedy-has-to-be-done-en-clair-you-can-t-blunt-the-edge-of-wit-or-the/) [James Thurber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-thurber/) [Explore all 229 James Thurber quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-thurber/) ## More Alps quotes > [The Labor Party has always - always been praised as leaders. In fact, there's probably more books written about ALP leaders and the ALP…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-mundine/the-labor-party-has-always-always-been-praised-as-leaders-in-fact/) [Warren Mundine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-mundine/) > [Human nature seems to me like the Alps. The depths are profound, black as night, and terrifying, but the heights are equally real, uplifted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-greene-balch/human-nature-seems-to-me-like-the-alps-the-depths-are-profound-black/) [Emily Greene Balch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-greene-balch/) > [We should strengthen the faith of our people in their own future, the faith of every Canadian in Canada, and of every province in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-d-arcy-mcgee/we-should-strengthen-the-faith-of-our-people-in-their-own-future-the/) [Thomas D'Arcy McGee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-d-arcy-mcgee/) > [New, distant Scenes of endless Science rise: So pleas'd at first, the towring Alps we try,...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/new-distant-scenes-of-endless-science-rise-so-pleas-d-at-first-the/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [And I can promise you something, because it was a thing I saw many years later - a vision in the book thief herself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-zusak/and-i-can-promise-you-something-because-it-was-a-thing-i-saw-many/) [Markus Zusak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-zusak/) > [I love as you come into Paris, you've got the Arch de Triomphe and all that crazy traffic. Then I love the drive from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luke-goss/i-love-as-you-come-into-paris-you-ve-got-the-arch-de-triomphe-and-all/) [Luke Goss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luke-goss/) > [We sit in calm, airy, silent rooms opening upon sunlit and embowered lawns, not a sound except of summer and of husbandry disturbs the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/we-sit-in-calm-airy-silent-rooms-opening-upon-sunlit-and-embowered/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Like so many substantial citizens of America, he had married young and kept on marrying, springing from blonde to blonde like the chamois of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/like-so-many-substantial-citizens-of-america-he-had-married-young-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/hills-peep-o-er-hills-and-alps-on-alps-arise/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [If I would have listened to the naysayers, I would still be in the Austrian Alps yodeling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-schwarzenegger/if-i-would-have-listened-to-the-naysayers-i-would-still-be-in-the/) [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-schwarzenegger/) > [Running gives me a clearer perspective on the world ... I've always seen the world by running, and that has allowed me to view…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grete-waitz/running-gives-me-a-clearer-perspective-on-the-world-i-ve-always-seen/) [Grete Waitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grete-waitz/) > [To be seventy years old is like climbing the Alps. You reach a snow-crowned summit, and see behind you the deep valley stretching miles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/to-be-seventy-years-old-is-like-climbing-the-alps-you-reach-a-snow/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [I have travelled around the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes, the Alps and the Highlands of Scotland, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-graham-bell/i-have-travelled-around-the-globe-i-have-seen-the-canadian-and/) [Alexander Graham Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-graham-bell/) > [Thirty centuries of history allow us to look with supreme pity on certain doctrines which are preached beyond the Alps by the descendants of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benito-mussolini/thirty-centuries-of-history-allow-us-to-look-with-supreme-pity-on/) [Benito Mussolini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benito-mussolini/) > [Ideas make their way in silence like the waters that, altering behind the rocks of the Alps, loosen then from the mountains upon which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-henri-merle-d-aubigne/ideas-make-their-way-in-silence-like-the-waters-that-altering-behind/) [Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-henri-merle-d-aubigne/) [Browse all 51 Alps quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alps/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he would get the worst case of strabismus since Hannibal lost an eye trying to count his nineteen elephants during a snowstorm while crossing the Alps.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "James Thurber" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-thurber/if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye-with-everybody-he-would-get/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Alps" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-thurber/if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye-with-everybody-he-would-get/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09a/james-thurber-1534_alps_if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye_2741534.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09a/james-thurber-1534_alps_if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye_2741534.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09a/james-thurber-1534_alps_if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye_2741534.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he would get the worst case of strabismus since…” — James Thurber", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "James Thurber", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-thurber/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If a playwright tried to see...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-thurber/if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye-with-everybody-he-would-get/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-thurber/if-a-playwright-tried-to-see-eye-to-eye-with-everybody-he-would-get/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```