E. B. White Quotes, Thoughts and images

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.

Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can't erase it.

Prejudice is a great time-saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.

One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.

The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.

Use the smallest word that does the job.

Make the work interesting and the discipline will take care of itself.

I have one share in corporate Earth, and I am nervous about the management.

Reading is the work of the alert mind, is demanding, and under ideal conditions produces finally a sort of ecstasy.

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.

Habitually creative people are prepared to be lucky.

No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader's intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.

The best writing is rewriting.

Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.

I am always humbled by the infinite ingenuity of the Lord, who can make a red barn cast a blue shadow.

To achieve style, begin by affecting none.

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

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

Loneliness is a strange gift.

Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess always will. But I love it just the same.

Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom.

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

An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but who has escaped the terrible desire to write.

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

I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a Ferris wheel.

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

Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.

Only a congenially self-centred person has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays.

Be obscure clearly! Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.

There is nothing more likely to start disagreement among people or countries than an agreement.

Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

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

Well,” said Stuart, “a misspelled word is an abomination in the sight of everyone.

When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.

Writing is both mask and unveiling.

You're terrific as far as I am concerned.

If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.