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The living language is like a cowpath: it is the creation of the cows themselves, who, having created it, follow it or depart from it according to their whims or their needs. From daily use, the path undergoes change. A cow is under no obligation to stay

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
Path
Cows
Language
Obligation
Living
According
Use
Daily
Change
Created
Undergoes
Needs
Follow
Whims
Like
Creation
Depart
Stay
Whim

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Einstein is loved because he is gentle, respected because he is wise. Relativity being not for most of us, we elevate its author to a position somewhere between Edison, who gave us a tangible gleam, and God, who gave us the difficult dark and the hope of penetrating it.
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Children hold spring so tightly in their brown fists-just as grownups, who are less sure of it, hold it in their hearts.
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A man who publishes his letters becomes a nudist - nothing shields him from the world's gaze except his bare skin. A writer, writing away, can always fix things up to make himself more presentable, but a man who has written a letter is stuck with it for all time.
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I am still encouraged to go on. I wouldn't know where else to go.
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Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor.
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In every queen there's a touch of floozy.
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It is at a fair that man can be drunk forever on liquor, love, or fights at a fair that your front pocket can be picked by a trotting horse looking for sugar, and your hind pocket by a thief looking for his fortune.
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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 have a spaniel that defrocked a nun last week. He took hold of the cord. I had hold of the leash. It was like elephants holding tails. Imagine me undressing a nun, even second hand.
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I am always humbled by the infite ingenuity of the Lord, who can make a red barn cast a blue shadow.
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Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life.
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A “fraternity” is the antithesis offraternity. The first (that is, the order or organization) is predicated on the idea of exclusion the second (that is, the abstract thing) is based on a feeling of total equality.
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Not even a collapsing world looks dark to a man who is about to make his fortune.
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I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
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It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet the bylaws are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members.
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There is another sort of day which needs celebrating in song -- the day of days when spring at last holds up her face to be kissed, deliberate and unabashed. On that day no wind blows either in the hills or in the mind.
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By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.
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Creation is in part merely the business of forgoing the great and small distractions.
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Well,” said Stuart, “a misspelled word is an abomination in the sight of everyone.
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Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
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