410 Quotes by E.B. White

All dwellers in cities must live with the stubborn fact of annihilation; in New York the fact is somewhat more concentrated because of the concentration of the city itself, and because, 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. It.

In a sense, the only genuinely secure person is a healthy man possessed of absolutely nothing; such a man stands aloof and safe – there is no way either to reduce his fortune or to debase his currency.

Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life.

Television will enormously enlarge the eye’s range, and, like radio, will advertise the Elsewhere. Together with the tabs, the mags, and the movies, it will insist that we forget the primary and the near in favor of the secondary and the remote.

Shocking writing is like murder: the questions the jury must decide are the questions of motive and intent.

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

Humor is like a frog. You can dissect it to see how it works, but by then, it’s dead.

I got a letter from a lightning rod company this morning trying to out the fear of God in me, but with small success. Lightning seems to have lost its menace. Compared to what is going on on earth today, heaven’s firebrands are penny fireworks with wet fuses.

A SPIDER’S web is stronger than it looks. Although it is made of thin, delicate strands, the web is not easily broken. However, a web gets torn every day by the insects that kick around in it, and a spider must rebuild it when it gets full of holes.