E. B. White Men Quotations

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.

When a man hangs from a tree it doesn't spell justice unless he helped write the law that hanged him.

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.

Half a man's life is devoted to what he calls improvements, yet the original had some quality which is lost in the process.

A man must have something to cling to. Without that he is as a pea vine sprawling in search of a trellis.... I was all asprawl, clinging to Beauty, which is a very restless trellis.

I seldom went to bed before two or three o'clock in the morning, on the theory that if anything of interest were to happen to a young man it would almost certainly happen late at night.

Computing machines perhaps can do the work of a dozen ordinary men, but there is no machine that can do the work of one extraordinary man.

Walden is the only book I own, although there are some others unclaimed on my shelves. Every man, I think, reads one book in his life, and this one is mine. It is not the best book I ever encountered, perhaps, but it is for me the handiest, and I keep it about me in much the same way one carries a handkerchief - for relief in moments of defluxion or despair.

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.

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.

Not even a collapsing world looks dark to a man who is about to make his fortune.

Security, for me, took a tumble not when I read that there were Communists in Hollywood but when I read your editorial in praise of loyalty testing and thought control. If a man is in health, he doesn't need to take anybody else's temperature to know where he is going.

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.

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.

Commuter - one who spends his life In riding to and from his wife; A man who shaves and takes a train And then rides back to shave again.

A library is many things, but particularly it is a place where books live, and where you can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books... Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had.

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.

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.

The sea answers all questions, and always in the same way; for when you read in the papers the interminable discussions and the bickering and the prognostications and the turmoil, the disagreements and the fateful decisions and agreements and the plans and the programs and the threats and the counter threats, then you close your eyes and the sea dispatches one more big roller in the unbroken line since the beginning of the world and it combs and breaks and returns foaming and saying: "So soon?" E. B. White "On A Florida Key

Liberty is never out of bounds or off limits; it spreads wherever it can capture the imagination of men.

If I can fool a bug... I can surely fool a man. People are not as smart as bugs.

... with men it's rush, rush, rush, every minute. I'm glad I'm a sedentary spider." "What does sedentary mean?" asked Wilbur. "Means I sit still a good part of the time and don't go wandering all over creation. I know a good thing when I see it, and my web is a good thing. I stay put and wait for what comes. Gives me a chance to think.

Why is it, do you suppose, that an Englishman is unhappy until he has explained America?

Dentistry is more impressive in town-what the rural man calls cleaning the teeth is called "prophylaxis" in New York.

Government is the thing. Law is the thing. Not brotherhood, not international cooperation, not security councils that can stop war only by waging it... Where does security lie, anyway - security against the thief, a bad man, the murderer? In brotherly love? Not at all. It lies in government.

Every American, to the last man, lays claim to a "sense" of humor and guards it as his most significant spiritual trait, yet rejects humor as a contaminating element wherever found. America is a nation of comics and comedians; nevertheless, humor has no stature and is accepted only after the death of the perpetrator.

When I get sick of what men do, I have only to walk a few steps in another direction to see what spiders do. Or what the weather does. This sustains me very well indeed.

When we think of [John F. Kennedy], he is without a hat, standing in the wind and weather. He was impatient of topcoats and hats, preferring to be exposed, and he was young enough and tough enough to enjoy the cold and the wind of those times.... It can be said of him, as of few men in a like position, that he did not fear the weather, and did not trim his sails, but instead challenged the wind itself, to improve its direction and to cause it to blow more softly and more kindly over the world and its people.

I have noticed that most men when they enter a barber shop and must wait their turn, drop into a chair and pick up a magazine. I simply sit down and pick up the thread of my sea wanderings, which began more than fifty years ago and is not quite ended. There is hardly a waiting room in the east that has not served as my cockpit, whether I was waiting to board a train or to see a dentist. And I am usually still trimming sheets when the train starts or drill begins to whine.

Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

Don't write about Man; write about a man.

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

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.

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

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

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

If we beat the All Blacks on Saturday it must come close to the achievement of winning a World Cup.

They're both mental sports. You make one mistake and it can mess up your whole day. In both, you have to learn to deal with it.

During the four years that it took to resolve this case we never wavered in our unflagging commitment to publicly demonstrate the we offer excellent services to our clients, we treat our chiropractors fairly and we make available to patients quality care at an affordable price. We are glad to see resolution.

We would still buy it at these levels, ... The stock has excellent earnings momentum right now. Great product pipeline. So, this is a stock that we'd still want to be involved in.

You have to deal with the military capabilities and consequences that's the most imminent and direct threat. You can't just kill terrorists; you have to change the environment from which they come.

We are very pleased to sponsor this program; a follow up to our highly successful conference last April. We believe that the time has come to inform and educate the county on the power and influence of this little known and underreported dimension of the Religious Far Right,

I view that as a tremendous achievement and testimony that the rugby authorities are doing a job in that respect. Apart from broadening our base of young players, we are currently setting the pace at under-19 and under-21 (international) level ? something which we can be extremely proud of.

Las Vegas is the place all of us wanted to go. For the first week of the tournament there's nonstop basketball, and we heard that's the place to go.

The firemen knew immediately they weren't going to be able to save the house. All they could do was keep it from spreading.

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.

If you are not really at peace with what has happened in your life, then you have not truly accepted responsibility for the events themselves, and for your response to them. Any lingering resentment or regret simply means that you still want to lay blame, either at your own door or someone else's.

We suspect that right now we are in the midst of what is a normal 10 percent correction. This is normal market volatility that people aren't really used to. A lot will be driven by the releases on the economy at the end of next week, namely the employment number.

We're pleased with the acquisition of Desert Fire. This acquisition demonstrates our ongoing commitment to purchase successful companies that fit our lines of business in vibrant markets.

By purchasing Siebel, Oracle has acquired an additional 3.4 million CRM (Customer Resource Management) users and the maintenance fees that go with that kind of installed base,

We've turned down many people that need apartments right now. If they can wait for a few months, we're willing for them to put in an application and work with us.

The politicians have focused so much on the mega-churches in the county from a land use perspective until they have not looked at the contributions being made by the smaller churches. Our church has a partnership with Longfields Elementary where we provide textbooks, school supplies and even shoes for the children.

We finished 9-12 last season and I told them if I am going to continue this, I need everyone's commitment this summer.

Their equipment helped us a lot. We have similar equipment, but it's not as sensitive as theirs.

It's a momentum swing that we really needed. Penn State is going to be a good team. As many quality wins that we can get in the Big Ten is our goal, especially going into IU.

This was a fatally flawed environmental impact analysis.

We felt Brandon would have some opportunities in this game. He needed to take advantage of them and he did. He's been playing at a high level and he's been a tremendous spark in every football game we've played.

This equipment is newer and greater and does so much more. There's just no comparison in what we can do.

The Noble Gibbons acquisition fits perfectly with our strategy of establishing a leading position in the world's top business capitals. Moscow continues to attract significant investment capital as its economy and real estate market matures.

These kids set a great example for our younger kids. They treated everyone really well. They just brought a sense of enjoyment to the season.

This is about getting the government to move faster in times of emergency and it's about saving lives,

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

A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.

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.

Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together-just the two of you.

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

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.

They've been the cause of many fashion-forward statements and many fashion faux pas.

Shea is a tremendous free throw shooter and, in the late going, if we can get the ball in her hands and she gets to the free-throw line, we know we?re going to score.

We're glad to be in the conference tournament finals and have a shot at winning it.

We have work crews, but we do a lot of organizing. People there want to help and neighbors get together and accomplish a lot. We give them some direction, and try to get them the building supplies and safety equipment they need.

Intellectually, we know for certain that we are on this planet for a very brief period, yet we tend to live as if we were going to live forever, as if there were no end to our life or to the lives of our friends and family. This not-so-subtle denial of death persists throughout our lives, unless we are lucky enough to get a dramatic, usually painful and invariably life-changing wake-up call. The moments of our lives are ephemeral gifts, and we can not afford to miss even one of them. Happily, you don't have to wait for a painful wake-up call. You can notice the miracle of your life right now. Awareness is a choice.

I told Garry Donna that physically, she was ahead of Stephanie going into the eighth grade, but not mentally and with her understanding of the game.

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

Being mentally tough is what the theme of the spring is going to be for us.

We need citizens who may need assistance in evacuations to reach out to friends, family and neighbors, ... There will not be enough government vehicles to go and evacuate everybody in every area.

I think what we're finding across the church is that people are tired of just writing the check for the mission. They really want to do it. We made a commitment to the city to put up 50 roofs over the next couple of months. We hope to perhaps complete 25 this week with the crews that we have.

The comments I heard from jail employees were that they were hoping it would stay under the county, ... I think most of them will be pleased that it was pulled off the table.

The community has had issues with the Police Department and with the trust of officers,

Contrary to what many people think, there is no such thing as an unimportant broken agreement. There may be bigger external consequences for breaking some agreements than othersùbut there are no broken agreements without a price.

My wife is a designer, and we need to move to San Diego pretty soon so we can open up our own design business. We were going to rent an apartment in San Diego, but we really don't want to carry costs in two places.

Prior to the law, the president and vice president could decide if the department were to exist or not at any time.

Surgery is still the most common treatment in the U.S. because patients aren't aware that they have choices.

Sports and other forms of vigorous physical activity provide educational experience which cannot be duplicated in the classroom. They are an uncompromising laboratory in which we must htink and act quickly and efficiently under pressure and then force us to meet our own inadequacies face to face - and do something about them - as nothing else does. In any athletic activity we are thrown upon our own resources to succeed or fail in the face of a strong and immediate challenge. Sports resemble life in a capsule form and the participant quickly learns that his preformance depends upon the development of strength, stammina, self-discipline and a sure and study judgement.

At some point it becomes a human rights issue. A hotelier might like greeting people and want to continue doing it. What right has the government to tax that person out of business?

I woke in my house, which borders the campus, and I walked outside where all the freshmen are moving into their dorms. About five minutes later, I hear that Tulane is closing down, so they let the freshmen move their stuff in the dorms and then evacuated the campus immediately.

Clearly with the case almost behind them now, their earnings momentum is clearly there,

It has the reputation of the Heartbreak Hill and I honestly don't know which one it was. There was never one moment where you had a super steep hill or long hill, but the location of them in the race made it especially hard.

The earthquake has had tragic consequences for hundreds of thousands of individuals and families. As a company with a longstanding commitment to Pakistan we appreciate the opportunity to provide some assistance to the victims at this very difficult time.

The first thing he would do is review all the discovery stuff the Police Department has garnered. (He'll) look at their evidence and see if they did it properly, and if there's anything they missed.

Having two more options is going to be great for all of us. My son is especially optimistic about more restaurant and entertainment options.

I think the strongest argument for the government is, if the death penalty is not appropriate for someone who had a hand in an attempt to undermine the entire American system of military, industry, and government, then who is it appropriate for?

As long as this economic environment stays intact, the market can grind its way North. You pay a lot of attention to valuation and you have to keep your eye on the long term. If you have funds that you need in the short term, I think you probably need to take some money off the table.

The other players did not testify before this committee, ... We are asking for these results in the context of Palmeiro's appearance before the Government Reform Committee.

They've still got improvement that can be done on the credit side, where a lot of banks have already been hurt, ... Revenue growth is going to be slow but they can make earnings and have good profit growth just by not shooting themselves in the foot on the credit side.

Our attitudes, opinions, beliefs and judgments are, simply put, our attitudes, opinions, beliefs and judgments. They are not universal truths.

There is still something real wrong within the community of police. There is a deeper wound here for this kind of thing to happen. There is a deeper wound that you as a police department must figure out.