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Only a person who is congenially self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays

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
Essays
Centered
Write
Persons
Person
Self
Writing
Effrontery
Stamina

More quotes by E. B. White

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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?
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A writer is like a bean plant - he has his little day, and then gets stringy.
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If I can fool a bug... I can surely fool a man. People are not as smart as bugs.
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A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.
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The rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything
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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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A candidate could easily commit political suicide if he were to come up with an unconventional thought during a presidential tour.
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All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.
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Necessity first mothered invention. Now invention has little ones of her own, and they look just like grandma.
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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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Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
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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.
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Life's accumulation is more discouraging than life itself, when stirred up.
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The first day of spring was once the time for taking the young virgins into the fields, there in dalliance to set an example in fertility for nature to follow. Now we just set the clocks an hour ahead and change the oil in the crankcase.
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I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. Never worry about your heart till it stops beating.
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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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Semi-colons only prove that the author has been to college.
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Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom.
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New York is part of the natural world. I love the city, I love the country, and for the same reasons. The city is part of the country. When I had an apartment on East Forty-Eighth Street, my backyard during the migratory season yielded more birds than I ever saw in Maine.
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I would really rather feel bad in Maine than feel good anywhere else
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