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In a man's middle years there is scarcely a part of the body he would hesitate to turn over to the proper authorities.
E. B. White
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E. B. White
Age: 86 †
Born: 1899
Born: July 11
Died: 1985
Died: October 1
Editor
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Poet
Screenwriter
Writer
Mount Vernon
New York
Elwyn Brooks White
E.B. White
Part
Scarcely
Body
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Would
Authority
Men
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Middle
Age
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Authorities
More quotes by E. B. White
A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.
E. B. White
The circus comes as close to being the world in microcosm as anything I know in a way, it puts all the rest of show business in the shade.
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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.
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Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
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The vision of milk and honey, it comes and goes. But the odor of cooking goes on forever.
E. B. White
I’ve got a new friend, all right. But what a gamble friendship is! Charlotte is fierce, brutal, scheming, bloodthirsty—everything I don’t like. How can I learn to like her, even though she is pretty and, of course, clever?
E. B. White
The beginner should approach style warily, realizing that it is himself he is approaching, no other and he should begin by turning resolutely away from all devices that are popularly believed to indicate style - all mannerisms, tricks, adornments. The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.
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America is now liberty-conscious. In a single generation it has progressed from being toothbrush-conscious, to being air-minded, to being liberty-conscious.
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Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself - a lad of about 19.
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Diplomacy is the lowest form of politeness because it misquotes the greatest number of people. A nation, like an individual, if it has anything to say, should simply say it.
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No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader's intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.
E. B. White
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
Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor.
E. B. White
When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.
E. B. White
It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with the garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat of the sun, the passage of swallows, the nearness of rats, the sameness of sheep, the love of spiders, the smell of manure, and the glory of everything.
E. B. White
A poet dares to be just so clear and no clearer he approaches lucid ground warily, like a mariner who is determined not to scrape his bottom on anything solid. A poet's pleasure is to withhold a little of his meaning, to intensify by mystification. He unzips the veil from beauty, but does not remove it. A poet utterly clear is a trifle glaring.
E. B. White
We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.
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Our vegetable garden is coming along well, with radishes and beans up, and we are less worried about revolution that we used to be.
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I am still encouraged to go on. I wouldn't know where else to go.
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 (if he wants it, and almost everybody wants or needs it) against all enormous and violent and wonderful events that are taking place every minute.
E. B. White
