Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.
- E. B. White
Writing, Grammar, Act, Faith
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
Play, Fall, Leaves, Critic
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.
- E. B. White
Nature, Less Time, Outwit, Respecting
Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
- E. B. White
Intelligence, Genius, Found, Pot
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
Other, Planet, Loyal, Club
There's no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.
- E. B. White
Always, Another, Leading, Complicated Things
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
Life, Desire, Torn, Between
Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
- E. B. White
Luck, Men, Presence, Self-Made
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
Image, Been, Shed, Lad
One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.
- E. B. White
Enemy, Most, Things, Time-Consuming
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
Next, Knights, Disarmament, Debates
I don't know which is more discouraging, literature or chickens.
- E. B. White
Literature, Chickens, Which, Discouraging
Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
- E. B. White
Humor, Frog, Analyzing, Dissecting
A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.
- E. B. White
Nothing, More, Nor, Handy
I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or non-political, that doesn't have a slant. All writing slants the way a writer leans, and no man is born perpendicular, although many men are born upright.
- E. B. White
Born, Perpendicular, Slant
The trouble with the profit system has always been that it was highly unprofitable to most people.
- E. B. White
Always, Been, Most, Highly
I can only assume that your editorial writer tripped over the First Amendment and thought it was the office cat.
- E. B. White
Over, Amendment, Editorial, Assume
The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.
- E. B. White
Mind, World, Never, Open
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.
- E. B. White
Need, Over, Been, Meteorologist
Commas in The New Yorker fall with the precision of knives in a circus act, outlining the victim.
- E. B. White
New, Yorker, Commas, Outlining
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
Happy, Deep, Moderately, Waist
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
New, Terror, His, Adjustment
Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
- E. B. White
Funny, Great Time, Having, Prejudice
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
Long, Run, Long Run, Picking
To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year.
- E. B. White
Christmas, Year, Through, Perceive
English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
- E. B. White
Education, Luck, Like, Sheer
Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
- E. B. White
Politics, More, Half, Suspicion
The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war.
- E. B. White
Father, Before, Dad, Eighteen
A writer is like a bean plant - he has his little day, and then gets stringy.
- E. B. White
Plant, Like, His, Gets
The only sense that is common in the long run, is the sense of change and we all instinctively avoid it.
- E. B. White
Change, Common, Only, Instinctively
Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor.
- E. B. White
Sense Of Humor, Sure, About, Absolutely
Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.
- E. B. White
Car, Somewhere Else, Else, Somewhere
Be obscure clearly.
- E. B. White
Funny, Clearly, Obscure
It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.
- E. B. White
Someone, Along, Good Writer, Often
There is nothing more likely to start disagreement among people or countries than an agreement.
- E. B. White
More, Agreement, Likely, Disagreement
I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a Ferris wheel.
- E. B. White
Space, View, See, I See
Writing is hard work and bad for the health.
- E. B. White
Work, Writing, Bad, Hard Work
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