A good many of the special words of business seem designed more to express the user's dreams than to express a precise meaning. E. B. White More Quotes by E. B. White More Quotes From E. B. White A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate millions... Of all targets New York has a certain clear priority. In the mind of whatever perverted dreamer might loose the lightning, New York must hold a steady, irresistible charm. E. B. White bridges new-york islands It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck. No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky. E. B. White individual luck new-york It is a miracle that New York works at all. The whole thing is implausible. E. B. White miracle whole new-york Computing machines perhaps can do the work of a dozen ordinary men, but there is no machine that can do the work of one extraordinary man. E. B. White ordinary work men His words span rivers and mountains, but his thoughts are still only six inches long. E. B. White mountain rivers long Wilbur burst into tears. "I dont want to die," he moaned. "I want to stay alive, right here in my comfortable manure pile with all my friends. I want to breathe the beautiful air and lie in the beautiful sun." E. B. White air beautiful lying An unhatched egg is to me the greatest challenge in life. E. B. White eggs challenges life 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 cows use needs 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. E. B. White flight writing firsts Although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest to being one. E. B. White clarity merit writing 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. E. B. White writing children way In a sense the world dies every time a writer dies, because, if he is any good, he has been a wet nurse to humanity during his entire existence and has held earth close around him, like the little obstetrical toad that goes about with a cluster of eggs attached to his legs. E. B. White eggs nurse writing You have been my friends. That in itself is a tremendous thing. E. B. White my-friends inspiring friendship When a man hangs from a tree it doesn't spell justice unless he helped write the law that hanged him. E. B. White adversity writing men Home was quite a place when people stayed there. E. B. White home happiness people We are such docile creatures, normally, that it takes a virus to jolt us out of life's routine. A couple of days in a fever bed are, in a sense, health-giving; the change in body temperature, the change in pulse , and the change of scene have a restorative effect on the system equal to the hell they raise. E. B. White health couple giving "What's miraculous about a spider's web?" said Mrs. Arable. "I don't see why you say a web is a miracle--it's just a web." E. B. White miracle nature trying There is a period near the beginning of every man's life when he has little to cling to except his unmanageable dream, little to support him except good health, and nowhere to go but all over the place. E. B. White support dream men We grow tyrannical fighting tyranny. . . . The most alarming spectacle today is not the spectacle of the atomic bomb in an unfederated world, it is the spectacle of the Americans beginning to accept the device of loyalty oaths and witch hunts, beginning to call anybody they don't like a Communist. E. B. White tolerance loyalty fighting Advice from this elderly practitioner is to forget publishers and just roll a sheet of copy paper into your machine and get lost in your subject. E. B. White elderly writing advice
