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James Thurber

James Thurber Quotes

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Famous James Thurber Quotes

“I never had a dog that showed a human fear of death. Death, to a dog, is the final unavoidable compulsion, the least ineluctable scent on a fearsome trail, but they like to face it alone, going out into the woods, among the leaves, if there are any leaves when their time comes, enduring without sentimental human distraction the Last Loneliness, which they are wise enough to know cannot be shared by anyone.”

IfsKnowsHumansEnoughLastsFacesDeathWiseDogLonelinessEndureFinalsWoodsDistractionGoing OutScentSentimentalTrailsFear Of DeathCompulsion
Author:James Thurber
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“We all know that the theater and every play that comes to Broadway have within themselves, like the human being, the seed of self-destruction and the certainty of death. The thing is to see how long the theater, the play, and the human being can last in spite of themselves.”

KnowsHumansLongSelfPlayLastsHuman BeingsDestructionTheaterEntertainmentSeedsCertaintySpiteBroadwaySelf DestructionCertainty Of Death
Book:Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself
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“I have figured for you the distance between the horns of a dilemma, night and day, and A and Z. I have computed how far is Up, how long it takes to get Away, and what becomes of Gone. I have discovered the length of the sea serpent, the price of priceless, and the square of the hippopotamus. I know where you are when you are at Sixes and Sevens, how much Is you have to have to make an Are, and how many birds you can catch with the salt in the ocean - 187,796,132, if it would interest you.”

IfsKnowsLongNightInterestGoneSeaOceanBirdDistanceGet AwayLengthWhere You AreSquaresSaltHornsDilemmaPricelessSerpentHippopotamus
Book:Many Moons
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“Every time is a time for comedy in a world of tension that would languish without it. But I cannot confine myself to lightness in a period of human life that demands light. We all know that, as the old adage has it, "It is later than you think." But I also say occasionally: "It is lighter than you think." In this light let's not look back in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness.”

ThinkingKnowsWorldHumansLooksLightComedyAwarenessPeriodsDemandHuman LifeTensionAdagesLightersLightnessLanguish
Author:James Thurber
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“Authors of light pieces have, nobody knows why, a genius for getting into minor difficulties: they walk into the wrong apartments, they drink furniture polish for stomach bitters, they drive their cars into the prize tulip beds of haughty neighbors, they playfully slap gangsters, mistaking them for old school friends.”

KnowsLightSchoolWalksPiecesCarGeniusDrinkBedDifficultyNeighborPrizeStomachMinorsApartmentFurniturePolishSlapNobody KnowsGangstersOld SchoolHaughtySchool Friends
Book:James Thurber: Writings & Drawings (including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
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