“Shocking writing is like murder: the questions the jury must decide are the questions of motive and intent.” WritingMurderMotiveShockingJuryObscenity Author:E. B. White
“My prose style at this time was a stomach-twisting blend of the Bible, Carl Sandburg, H.L. Mencken, Jeffrey Farnol, Christopher Morley, Samuel Pepys, and Franklin Pierce Adams imitating Samuel Pepys. I was quite apt to throw in a "bless the mark" at any spot, and to begin a sentence with "Lord" comma.” WritingLordStyleMarkSentencesSpotsProseBlessStomachFranklinPierceImitating Author:E. B. White
“I have just been refining the room in which I sit, yet I sometimes doubt that a writer should refine or improve his workroom by so much as a dictionary: one thing leads to another and the first thing you know he has a stuffed chair and is fast asleep in it.” KnowsShouldWritingFirstsSometimesRoomsDoubtOne ThingChairsDictionaryRefining Author:E. B. White
“In the nature of things, a person engaged in the flimsy business of expressing himself on paper is dependent on the large general privilege of being heard. Any intimation that this privilege may be revoked throws a writer into panic.” WritingMayPersonsHeardPaperPrivilegeEngagedDependentPanic Author:E. B. White
“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.” ThinkingMenWritingSelfHappensBeliefInterestLiberatedEssayists Book:Essays of E. B. White Source: Essays of E. B. White
“A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy: true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down.” PeopleShouldWritingHeartDutyConcernErrorsBe GoodLiftsFancyDullAccurateLivelyTypewriters Author:E. B. White
