E. B. White Quotes

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.

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.

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

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

A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people - people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.

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

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.

Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They'll believe anything they see in print.

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

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

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

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

Good deeds never go unpunished.

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

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.

Being the owner of Dachshunds, to me a book on dog discipline becomes a volume of inspired humor. Every sentence is a riot. Some day, if I ever get a chance, I shall write a book, or warning, on the character and temperament of the Dachshund and why he can't be trained and shouldn't be. I would rather train a striped zebra to balance an Indian club than induce a Dachshund to heed my slightest command. When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes. He even disobeys me when I instruct him in something he wants to do.

Writing is both mask and unveiling.

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

When you consider that there are a thousand ways to express even the simplest idea, it is no wonder writers are under a great strain. Writers care greatly how a thing is said - it makes all the difference. So they are constantly faced with too many choices and must make too many decisions.

The best writing is rewriting.

Writing is one way to go about thinking, and the practice and habit of writing not only drain the mind but supply it, too.

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

Only a person who is congenially self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays

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

Loneliness is a strange gift.