James Thurber (1894 – 1961)
American humorist and cartoonist.
But those rare souls whose spirit gets magically into the hearts of men, leave behind them something more real and warmly personal than bodily presence, an ineffable and eternal thing. It is everlasting life touching us as something more than a vague, recondite concept. The sound of a great name dies like an echo; the splendor of fame fades into nothing; but the grace of a fine spirit pervades the places through which it has passed, like the haunting loveliness of mignonette.
I always begin at the left with the opening word of the sentence and read toward the right and I recommend this method.
The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he identifies himself with people — that is, people everywhere, not for the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true nature.
Discussion in America means dissent.
Somebody has said that woman's place is in the wrong. That's fine. What the wrong needs is a woman's presence and a woman's touch. She is far better equipped than men to set it right.
If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he would get the worst case of strabismus since Hannibal lost an eye trying to count his nineteen elephants during a snowstorm while crossing the Alps.
I am not a dog lover. A dog lover to me means a dog that is in love with another dog.
From now on, I think it is safe to predict, neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party will ever nominate for President a candidate without good looks, stage presence, theatrical delivery, and a sense of timing.
I love the idea of there being two sexes, don't you?
You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
Comedy has to be done en clair. You can't blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.
A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn't make any sense.
Man has gone long enough, or even too long, without being man enough to face the simple truth that the trouble with Man is Man.
Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.
"Who are you?" the minstrel asked. "I am the Golux," said the Golux, proudly, "the only Golux in the world, and not a mere Device."
My opposition lies in the fact that offhand answers have little value or grace of expression, and that such oral give and take helps to perpetuate the decline of the English language.
When all things are equal, translucence in writing is more effective than transparency, just as glow is more revealing than glare.
A drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption.
He knows all about art, but he doesn't know what he likes.