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Although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest to being one.

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
Comes
Writing
Substitute
Substitutes
Closest
Clarity
Merit
Although

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I can still see my first dog. For six years he met me at the same place after school and convoyed me home - a service he thought up himself. A boy doesn't forget that sort of association.
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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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Only a person who is congenially self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays
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No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader's intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.
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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
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... with men it's rush, rush, rush, every minute. I'm glad I'm a sedentary spider. What does sedentary mean? asked Wilbur. Means I sit still a good part of the time and don't go wandering all over creation. I know a good thing when I see it, and my web is a good thing. I stay put and wait for what comes. Gives me a chance to think.
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When an American family becomes separated from its toothbrushes and combs and pajamas for a few hours it considers that it has had quite an adventure.
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Sometimes a writer, like an acrobat, must try a trick that is too much for him.
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The vision of milk and honey, it comes and goes. But the odor of cooking goes on forever.
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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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A schoolchild should be taught grammar - for the same reason that a medical student should study anatomy. Having learned about the exciting mysteries of an English sentence, the child can then go forth and speak and write any damn way he pleases.
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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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A right is a responsibility in reverse.
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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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Half a man's life is devoted to what he calls improvements, yet the original had some quality which is lost in the process.
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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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Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.
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But we have received a sign, Edith - a mysterious sign. A miracle has happened on this farm... in the middle of the web there were the words 'Some Pig'... we have no ordinary pig. Well, said Mrs. Zuckerman, it seems to me you're a little off. It seems to me we have no ordinary spider.
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I have one share in corporate Earth, and I am nervous about the management.
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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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