James Thurber Quotes

All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why

There is something about a poet which leads us to believe that he died, in many cases, as long as 20 years before his birth.

Salvador [Dali] was brought up in Spain, a country colored by the legends of Hannibal, El Greco, and Cervantes. I was brought up in Ohio, a region steeped in the tradition of Coxey's Army, the Anti-Saloon League, and William Howard Taft.

It had only one fault. It was kind of lousy.

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.

But what is all this fear of and opposition to Oblivion? What is the matter with the soft Darkness, the Dreamless Sleep?

"Half the places I have been to, never were. I make things up. Half the things I say are there cannot be found. When I was young I told a tale of buried gold, and men from leagues around dug in the woods. I dug myself."

"But why?"

"I thought the tale of treasure might be true."

"You said you made it up."

"I know I did, but then I didn't know I had. I forget things, too."

Progress was all right. Only it went on too long.

A drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption.

A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn't make sense.

I love the idea of there being two sexes, don't you?

Books can be burned,” croaked Black.

“They have a way of rising from the ashes,” said Andreus.

It is all but impossible to sit quietly by when someone is throwing salad plates.

I admire the person who can write it right off. Mencken once said that a person who thinks clearly can write well. But I don't think clearly — too many thoughts bump into one another. Trains of thought run on a track of the Central Nervous System — the New York Central Nervous System, to make it worse.

In other countries, art and literature are left to a lot of shabby bums living in attics and feeding on booze and spaghetti.

"You have made the moon," The Jester said. "That is the moon."