E. B. White: Don't write about Man; write about a man.

We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.

E. B. White

wine running long

But real life is only one kind of life—there is also the life of the imagination.

E. B. White

kind real imagination

When I was a child people simply looked about them and were moderately happy; today they peer beyond the seven seas, bury themselves waist deep in tidings, and by and large what they see and hear makes them unutterably sad.

E. B. White

happy happiness inspirational

All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelation-it is the Self-escaping into the open.

E. B. White

escaping communication writing

Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor.

E. B. White

sense-of-humor humor believe

All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.

E. B. White

writing inspiring book

Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.

E. B. White

true-friend life-changing children

Semi-colons only prove that the author has been to college.

E. B. White

has-beens prove college

It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.

E. B. White

charlottes-web true-friend friendship

It is quite possible that an animal has spoken to me and that I didn't catch the remark because I wasn't paying attention.

E. B. White

charlottes-web animal attention

Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.

E. B. White

desire morning world

There is no satisfactory explanation of style, no infallible guide to good writing, no assurance that a person who thinks clearly will be able to write clearly, no key that unlocks the door, no inflexible rules by which the young writer may steer his course. He will often find himself steering by stars that are disturbingly in motion.

E. B. White

stars writing thinking

The whole problem is to establish communication with ones self.

E. B. White

communication problem self

I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. "Never worry about your heart till it stops beating.

E. B. White

worry heart advice

A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning.

E. B. White

space add art

new york provides not only a continuing excitation but also a spectacle that is continuing.

E. B. White

continuing new-york

Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake us and make us the gift of serenity and well-being, it will have to be the state of Something Good Happening.

E. B. White

peace people thinking

There's no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.

E. B. White

pessimistic limits complicated

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.

E. B. White

heart food morning

The city is like poetry; it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.

E. B. White

cities race islands