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.
It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.
All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.
Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.
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.
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.
A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.
Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
Writing is both mask and unveiling.
Be obscure clearly.
Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They’ll believe anything they see in print.
The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.
Well,” said Stuart, “a misspelled word is an abomination in the sight of everyone.
A schoolchild should be taught grammar – for the same reason that a medical student should study anatomy. Having learned about the exciting mysteries of an English sentence, the child can then go forth and speak and write any damn way he pleases.
To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year. “The Distant Music of the Hounds,” 1954.
Very fine law,” said Stuart. “When I am Chairman, anybody who is mean to anybody else is going to catch it.
The night seemed long. Wilbur’s stomach was empty and his mind was full. And when your stomach is empty and your mind is full, it’s always hard to sleep.
He wiped his face with his handkerchief, for he was quite warm from the exertion of being Chairman of the World. It had taken more running and leaping and sliding than he had imagined.