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James Thurber

James Thurber Quotes

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Famous James Thurber Quotes

“It did not take Man long-probably not more than a hundred centuries-to discover that all the animals except the dog were impossible around the house. One has but to spend a few days with an aardvark or llama, command a water buffalo to sit up and beg or try to housebreak a moose, to perceive how wisely Man set about his process of elimination and selection.”

MenTryingLongHouseProcessWaterAnimalImpossibleCenturyDogHundredCommandPerceiveSelectionEliminationBuffaloMooseLlamasWater Buffalo
Book:James Thurber: Writings & Drawings (including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
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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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“Every man is occasionally visited by the suspicion that the planet on which he is riding is not really going anywhere; that the Force which controls its measured eccentricities hasn't got anything special in mind. If he broods on this somber theme long enough he gets the doleful idea that the laughing children on a merry-go-round or the thin, fine hands of a lady's watch are revolving more purposely than he is.”

IfsMenMindChildrenLongIdeasEnoughHandsPurposeForceWatchesLaughingSpecialPlanetsFineRoundsEvery ManThemeRidingSuspicionMerryEccentricityRevolvingSomberMerry Go RoundDoleful
Book:Writings and Drawings
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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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