Quotes by 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.

After all, whats a life, anyway? Were born, we live a little while, we die.

Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. Theyll believe anything they see in print.

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

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

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.

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

All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.

Writing is both mask and unveiling.

The mind travels faster than the pen; consequently, writing becomes a question of learning to make occasional wing shots, bringing down the bird of thought as it flashes by. A writer is a gunner, sometimes waiting in the blind for something to come in, sometimes roaming the countryside hoping to scare something up.

The best writing is rewriting.

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.

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

There is nothing harder to estimate than a writers 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 writers time isnt worth the paper he is not writing anything on.

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

Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you cant erase it.

Why did you do all this for me? he asked. I dont deserve it. Ive never done anything for you. You have been my friend, replied Charlotte. That in itself is a tremendous thing.

It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.

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?

You have been my friend... And that in itself is a tremendous thing.