WisdomArea — Wisdom & Inspiration

"... Surely the Board knows what democracy is. It is the line that forms on the right. It is the don’t in don’t shove. It is the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles; it is the dent in the high hat. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half the peopleare right more than half the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths,the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. Democracy is a letter to the editor. Democracy is the score at the beginning of the ninth. It is an idea which hasn’t been disproved yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad. It’s the mustard on the hot dog and the cream in the rationed coffee."

E.B. White

"As everyone knows, there is often a rather fine line between laughing and crying"

E.B. White

"It was a delicious meal -- skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum off a cup of cocoa, an ancient jelly roll, a strip of paper from the lining of the garbage pail, and a spoonful of raspberry jello."

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

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

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

"Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better but the frog dies in the process."

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

"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"

E.B. White

"Remember that writing is translation, and the opus to be translated is yourself."

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

"The best writing is rewriting."

E.B. White

"Writing is both mask and unveiling."

E.B. White

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

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

"Thus I, gone forth, as spiders do,In spider’s web a truth discerning,Attach one silken strand to you For my returning."

E.B. White

"This is what youth must figure out:Girls, love, and living. The having, the not having,The spending and giving,And the meloncholy time of not knowing. This is what age must learn about:The ABC of dying. The going, yet not going,The loving and leaving,And the unbearable knowing and knowing"

E.B. White

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But 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."

E.B. White

E.B. White

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