110+ E. B. White Quotes On Writing, Humorous And Poetic

E. B. White was an American writer, best known for his children’s books such as Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. He was also a prominent essayist, contributing to the New Yorker for many years. White was a master of the English language, and his works are still widely read today. Following is our collection on famous quotes by E. B. White on writing, humorous, poetic.

Top 10 E. B. White Quotes

1. One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.
2. All we need is a meteorologist who has once been soaked to the skin without ill effect. No one can write knowingly of the weather who walks bent over on wet days.
3. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.
4. As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left us in a bad time.
5. 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.
6. Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They'll believe anything they see in print.
7. Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.

E. B. White Image Quotes

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one. — E. B. White

E. B. White Short Quotes

• Familiarity is the thing-the sense of belonging. It grants exemption from all evil, all shabbiness.
• Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
• Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.
• I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a Ferris wheel.
• I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. "Never worry about your heart till it stops beating.
• A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning.
• To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year.
• Salutations; it's just my fancy way of saying hello or good morning
• A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.
• Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

E. B. White Quotes About Writing

Use the smallest word that does the job. — E. B. White

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

Writing is both mask and unveiling. — E. B. White

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar. — E. B. White

Commas in The New Yorker fall with the precision of knives in a circus act, outlining the victim. — E. B. White

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

I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or non-political, that does not have a slant. All writing slants the way a writer leans, and no man is born perpendicular. — E. B. White

The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest. — E. B. White

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

There is nothing harder to estimate than a writer's time, nothing harder to keep track of. There are moments—moments of sustained creation—when his time is fairly valuable; and there are hours and hours when a writer's time isn't worth the paper he is not writing anything on. — E. B. White

E. B. White Quotes About Humorous

The world likes humor, but it treats it patronizingly. It decorates its serious artists with laurel, and its wags with Brussels sprouts. — E. B. White

I don't know which is more discouraging, literature or chickens. — E. B. White

Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car. — E. B. White

Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it. — E. B. White

Humor is like a frog. You can dissect it to see how it works, but by then, it's dead. — E. B. White

Understanding humor is like dissecting a live frog. It can be done, but the frog tends to die in the process. — E. B. White

Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind. — E. B. White

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

E. B. White Quotes About People

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

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. — E. B. White

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

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

People are, if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about being thought unjust. — E. B. White

Habitually creative people are prepared to be lucky. — E. B. White

The trouble with the profit system has always been that it was highly unprofitable to most people. — E. B. White

Diplomacy is the lowest form of politeness because it misquotes the greatest number of people. A nation, like an individual, if it has anything to say, should simply say it. — E. B. White

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

If I can fool a bug... I can surely fool a man. People are not as smart as bugs. — E. B. White

E. B. White Quotes About Writer

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

A despot doesn't fear eloquent writers preaching freedom- he fears a drunken poet who may crack a joke that will take hold. — E. B. White

I can only assume that your editorial writer tripped over the First Amendment and thought it was the office cat. — E. B. White

A writer is like a bean plant - he has his little day, and then gets stringy. — E. B. White

A man who publishes his letters becomes a nudist - nothing shields him from the world's gaze except his bare skin. A writer, writing away, can always fix things up to make himself more presentable, but a man who has written a letter is stuck with it for all time. — E. B. White

I am often mad, but I would hate to be nothing but mad: and I think I would lose what little value I may have as a writer if I were to refuse, as a matter of principle, to accept the warming rays of the sun, and to report them, whenever, and if ever, they — E. B. White

A single overstatement, wherever or however it occurs, diminishes the whole, and a carefree superlative has the power to destroy, for the reader, the object of the writer's enthusiasm. — E. B. White

Advice to young writers wo want to get ahead without any annoying delays: don't write about Man, write about a man. — E. B. White

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

In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty. — E. B. White

E. B. White Quotes About Hard

Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words, and they backhand them over the net. They love words that give them a hard time, provided they are in a context that absorbs their attention. — E. B. White

Writing is hard work and bad for the health. — E. B. White

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

E. B. White Quotes About Starting

The critic leaves at curtain fall To find, in starting to review it, He scarcely saw the play at all For starting to review it. — E. B. White

Stuart rose from the ditch, climbed into his car, and started up the road that led toward the north...As he peeked ahead into the great land that stretched before him, the way seemed long. But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction. — E. B. White

I always write a thing first and think about it afterward, which is not a bad procedure because the easiest way to have consequential thoughts is to start putting them down. — E. B. White

E. B. White Famous Quotes And Sayings

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one. — E. B. White

Our vegetable garden is coming along well, with radishes and beans up, and we are less worried about revolution that we used to be. — E. B. White

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

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street. — E. B. White

I am always humbled by the infite ingenuity of the Lord, who can make a red barn cast a blue shadow. — E. B. White

Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth.... Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words and they backhand them across the net. — E. B. White

In a man's middle years there is scarcely a part of the body he would hesitate to turn over to the proper authorities. — E. B. White

Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing. — E. B. White

Early summer days are a jubilee time for birds. In the fields, around the house, in the barn, in the woods, in the swamp - everywhere love and songs and nests and eggs. — E. B. White

A man is not expected to love his country, lest he make an ass of himself. Yet our country, seen through the mists of smog, is curiously lovable, in somewhat the way an individual who has got himself into an unconscionable scrape seems lovable - or at least deserving of support. — E. B. White

Geese are friends to no one, they bad mouth everybody and everything. But they are companionable once you get used to their ingratitude and false accusations. — E. B. White

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed. — E. B. White

A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can't get it by breeding for it, and you can't buy it with money. It just happens along. — E. B. White

I’ve got a new friend, all right. But what a gamble friendship is! Charlotte is fierce, brutal, scheming, bloodthirsty—everything I don’t like. How can I learn to like her, even though she is pretty and, of course, clever? — E. B. White

I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially. — E. B. White

In middle life, the human back is spoiling for a technical knockout and will use the flimsiest excuse, even a sneeze, to fall apart. — E. B. White

Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself - a lad of about 19. — E. B. White

Is there anything in the universe more beautiful and protective than the simple complexity of a spider's web? — E. B. White

It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with the garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat of the sun, the passage of swallows, the nearness of rats, the sameness of sheep, the love of spiders, the smell of manure, and the glory of everything. — E. B. White

The essayist . . . can pull on any sort of shirt, be any sort of person, according to his mood or his subject matter - philosopher, scold, jester, raconteur, confidant, pundit, devil's advocate, enthusiast. — E. B. White

When an American family becomes separated from its toothbrushes and combs and pajamas for a few hours it considers that it has had quite an adventure. — E. B. White

The beginner should approach style warily, realizing that it is himself he is approaching, no other; and he should begin by turning resolutely away from all devices that are popularly believed to indicate style - all mannerisms, tricks, adornments. The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity. — E. B. White

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 — E. B. White

A poet dares be just so clear and no clearer... He unzips the veil from beauty, but does not remove it. A poet utterly clear is a trifle glaring. — E. B. White

Mother: It's broccoli, dear. --- Child: I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it. — E. B. White

It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet; the bylaws are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members. — E. B. White

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

The first day of spring was once the time for taking the young virgins into the fields, there in dalliance to set an example in fertility for nature to follow. Now we just set the clocks an hour ahead and change the oil in the crankcase. — E. B. White

Life is always rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch. — E. B. White

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

New York is to the nation what the white church spire is to the village - the visible symbol of aspiration and faith, the white plume saying the way is up! — E. B. White

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

Americans are willing to go to enormous trouble and expense defending their principles with arms, very little trouble and expense advocating them with words. Temperamentally we are ready to die for certain principles (or, in the case of overripe adults, send youngsters to die), but we show little inclination to advertise the reasons for dying. — E. B. White

The circus comes as close to being the world in microcosm as anything I know; in a way, it puts all the rest of show business in the shade. — E. B. White

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

By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that. — E. B. White

Be obscure clearly. — E. B. White

Deathlessness should be arrived at in a... haphazard fashion. Loving fame as much as any man, we shall carve our initials in the shell of a tortoise and turn him loose in a peat bog. — E. B. White

The terror of the atom age is not the violence of the new power but the speed of man's adjustment to it, the speed of his acceptance. — E. B. White

Just to live in the country is a full-time job. You don't have to do anything. The idle pursuit of making a living is pushed to one side, where it belongs, in favor of living itself, a task of such immediacy, variety, beauty, and excitement that one is powerless to resist its wild embrace. — E. B. White

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

Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion. — E. B. White

A “fraternity” is the antithesis offraternity. The first (that is, the order or organization) is predicated on the idea of exclusion; the second (that is, the abstract thing) is based on a feeling of total equality. — E. B. White

After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. — E. B. White

The best writing is rewriting. — E. B. White

I believe television is going to be the test of the modern world, and that in this new opportunity to see beyond the range of our vision, we shall discover a new and unbearable disturbance of the modern peace, or a saving radiance in the sky. We shall stand or fall by television - of that I am quite sure. — E. B. White

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

Nationalism has two fatal charms for its devotees: It presupposes local self-sufficiency, which is a pleasant and desirable condition, and it suggests, very subtly, a certain personal superiority by reason of one's belonging to a place which is definable and familiar, as against a place that is strange, remote. — E. B. White

Thurber did not write the way a surgeon operates, he wrote the way a child skips rope, the way a mouse waltzes. — E. B. White

The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war. — E. B. White

I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult. — E. B. White

It sometimes takes days, even weeks, before a dog's nerves tire. In the case of terriers it can run into months. — E. B. White

A schoolchild should be taught grammar—for the same reason that a medical student should study anatomy. — E. B. White

Necessity first mothered invention. Now invention has little ones of her own, and they look just like grandma. — E. B. White

The rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything — E. B. White

You're terrific as far as I am concerned. — E. B. White

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

The world organization debates disarmament in one room and, in the next room, moves the knights and pawns that make national arms imperative. — E. B. White

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

The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year - the days when summer is changing into autumn - the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change. — E. B. White

When my wife's Aunt Caroline was in her nineties, she lived with us, and she once remarked: 'Remembrance is sufficient of the beauty we have seen.' I cherish the remembrance of the beauty I have seen. I cherish the grave, compulsive word. — E. B. White

Even now; with a thousand little voyages notched in my belt. I still feel a memorial chill on casting off. — E. B. White

Wilbur didn't want food, he wanted love. — E. B. White

As a writing man, or secretary, I have always felt charged with the safekeeping of all unexpected items of worldly and unworldly enchantment, as though I might be held personally responsible if even a small one were to be lost. — E. B. White

But we have received a sign, Edith - a mysterious sign. A miracle has happened on this farm... in the middle of the web there were the words 'Some Pig'... we have no ordinary pig." "Well", said Mrs. Zuckerman, "it seems to me you're a little off. It seems to me we have no ordinary spider. — E. B. White

Life Lessons by E. B. White

1. E. B. White's writing emphasizes the importance of living life with a sense of wonder and curiosity, and to appreciate the beauty of the world around us.
2. He also encourages us to be kind to others, and to be open to learning from our mistakes and growing from them.
3. Finally, White reminds us to remain humble and to stay true to our values and beliefs, no matter what life throws our way.