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A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy: true, not false lively, not dull accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down.

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
True
False
Lively
Writing
Errors
Lift
Heart
Tend
Accurate
Good
Concern
Lifts
Absorbs
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Duty
Error
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Lower
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Typewriters
Whatever
Dull
Lousy

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It seemed to me that I should have a desk, even though I had no real need for a desk. I was afraid that if I had no desk in my room my life would seem too haphazard.
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Writing is both mask and unveiling.
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I don't understand it, and I don't like what I don't understand.
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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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I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. Never worry about your heart till it stops beating.
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Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
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A writer should tend to lift people up, not lower them down.
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Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life.
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Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.
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I have always felt that the first duty of a writer was to ascend - to make flights, carrying others along if you can manage it. To do this takes courage, even a certain conceit.
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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.
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I have just been refining the room in which I sit, yet I sometimes doubt that a writer should refine or improve his workroom by so much as a dictionary: one thing leads to another and the first thing you know he has a stuffed chair and is fast asleep in it.
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Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom.
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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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Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.
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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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Well,” said Stuart, “a misspelled word is an abomination in the sight of everyone.
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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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Although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest to being one.
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From morning till night, sounds drift from the kitchen, most of them familiar and comforting. . . . On days when warmth is the most important need of the human heart, the kitchen is the place you can find it it dries the wet sock, it cools the hot little brain.
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