James ThurberThere is something about a poet which leads us to believe that he died, in many cases, as long as 20 years before his birth. ✨ Quoted in Helen Thurber and Edward Weeks (eds)… ▶371Death
James ThurberWhat would you do without me? Say 'nothing.' Nothing, said the Prince. Good. Then you're helpless and I'll help you. ✨ James Thurber (1996). James Thurber: Writings & Drawin… ▶361Life
James ThurberBut what is all this fear of and opposition to Oblivion? What is the matter with the soft Darkness, the Dreamless Sleep? ✨ James Thurber (1996). James Thurber: Writings & Dr… ▶373Life
James ThurberI think that maybe if women and children were in charge we would get somewhere. ✨ James Thurber, Harrison Kinney, Rosemary A. Thurber (2002). The Thurber letters: the wit, w… ▶351LifePhilosophyThought
James ThurberRemember laughter. You'll need it even in the blessed isles of Ever After. ✨ James Thurber (1996). Writings and Drawings, Library of America363Humor
James ThurberBeautiful things don't ask for attention.374Time
James ThurberThe sanity of the average banquet speaker lasts about two and a half months; at the end of that time he begins to mutter to himself, and calls out in his sleep. ✨ James Thur… ▶374HumorTime
James ThurberHuman Dignity has gleamed only now and then and here and there, in lonely splendor, throughout the ages, a hope of the better men, never an achievement of the majority. ✨ Ja… ▶364HopeHumanityLife
James ThurberThe dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his. ✨ James Thurber (1955). Thurber's Dog's: A… ▶331Humanity
James ThurberFor one thing, she pronounced flowers 'flars' and I couldn't let it slide.321Reading
James ThurberNowadays men lead lives of noisy desperation. ✨ James Thurber (1956). Further fables for our time354Time
James ThurberLet me be the first to admit that the naked truth about me is to the naked truth about Salvador Dali as an old ukulele in the attic is to a piano in a tree, and I mean a piano wit… ▶344Truth
James ThurberMan has gone long enough, or even too long, without being man enough to face the simple truth that the trouble with man is man. ✨ James Thurber (1961). Lanterns & Lances, Ne… ▶311Truth
James ThurberMan is flying too fast for a world that is round. Soon he will catch up with himself in a great rear end collision. ✨ James Thurber (1956). Further fables for our time344Time
James ThurberSixty minutes of thinking of any kind is bound to lead to confusion and unhappiness. ✨ James Thurber (1996). James Thurber: Writings & Drawings (including The Secret Life of… ▶377LifeThought
James ThurberWhy do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?323Sadness
James ThurberIt is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.345Hope
James ThurberTime is for dragonflies and angels. The former live too little and the latter live too long. ✨ James Thurber (1996). James Thurber: Writings & Drawings (including The Secret… ▶291LifeTime
James ThurberSophistication might be described as the ability to cope gracefully with a situation involving the presence of a formidable menace to one's poise and prestige (such as the butler,… ▶335Humor
James ThurberThere is no safety in numbers, or in anything else. ✨ New Yorker 4 Feb. 1939 The Fairly Intelligent Fly379Thought
James ThurberA word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn't make sense. ✨ James Thurber (1956). Further fables for our time357Time
James ThurberThe wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself. ✨ Interview with Edward R. Murrow on Small World, CBS-TV, March 2… ▶336Humor
James ThurberThe animals that depend on instinct have an inherent knowledge of the laws of economics and of how to apply them; Man, with his powers of reason, has reduced economics to the leve… ▶3710HumorPolitics
James ThurberI am not a cat man, but a dog man, and all felines can tell this at a glance - a sharp, vindictive glance. ✨ James Thurber (1961). Lanterns & Lances, New York : Harper3710Humor
James ThurberHumor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our greatest earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all cost.303HumorThought
James ThurberTwo is company, four is a party, three is a crowd. One is a wanderer. ✨ James Thurber (1996). James Thurber: Writings & Drawings (including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty),… ▶304Life
James ThurberThe nation that complacently and fearfully allows its artists and writers to become suspected rather than respected is no longer regarded as a nation possessed with humor or depth… ▶282Humor
James ThurberA drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption. ✨ James Thurber (1990). Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself3610Humor
James ThurberWomen are wiser than men because they know less and understand more.282Truth
James ThurberAll men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why. ✨ James Thurber (1978). Further fables for our time, Simon & Schuster315DeathTime
