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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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“One has but to observe a community of beavers at work in a stream to understand the loss in his sagacity, balance, co-operation, competence, and purpose which Man has suffered since he rose up on his hind legs. He began to chatter and he developed Reason, Thought, and Imagination, qualities which would get the smartest group of rabbits or orioles in the world into inextricable trouble overnight.”

MenWorldReasonPurposeHumanityCommunityImaginationLossQualityTroubleGroupsBalanceRoseLegsOperationsStreamsRabbitsCompetenceChatterBeaversSagacity
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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“But those rare souls whose spirit gets magically into the hearts of men, leave behind them something more real and warmly personal than bodily presence, an ineffable and eternal thing. It is everlasting life touching us as something more than a vague, recondite concept. The sound of a great name dies like an echo; the splendor of fame fades into nothing; but the grace of a fine spirit pervades the places through which it has passed, like the haunting loveliness of mignonette.”

MenHeartRealSoulSpiritBehindsGraceFineHauntingLovelinessIneffableSomething Real
Author:James Thurber
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“All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.”

MenShouldSelfHumorRunningPurposeDiesLearningDiscoveryStriveSelf DiscoveryFinding YourselfAbout YourselfDiscoveringTrue SelfDeep ThoughtKnow YourselfRealisationSelf RealisationSelf KnowingDiscovering YourselfDiscovering SelfDiscovery In LifeDiscovering Your True SelfBeing Your True SelfLearning About Yourself
Book:Further fables for our time
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“The 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 level of a farce which is at once funnier and more tragic than Tobacco Road.”

MenReasonLawAnimalLevelsEconomicDependsEconomicsInstinctIntuitionTragicInherentTobaccoFarceEconomy And Economics
Book:Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself
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“Sophistication 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, or the man under the bed - but never the husband).”

MenMightAbilitySituationComedyBedHusbandInvolvingMenacePrestigeFormidableSophisticationButlersPoise
Book:Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself
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