E.B. White Quotes

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”

“After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die.”

“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.”

“By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”

“Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They’ll believe anything they see in print.”

“What do you mean less than nothing? I don’t think there is any such thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It’s the lowest you can go. It’s the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would be something - even though it’s just a very little bit of something. But if nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it is.”

“Never hurry and never worry!”

“Children almost always hang onto things tighter than their parents think they will.”

“Can I have a pig, too, Pop?” asked Avery. “No, I only distribute pigs to early risers,” said Mr. Arable. “Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig. A small one, to be sure, but nevertheless a pig. It just shows what can happen if a person gets out of bed promptly.”

“Don’t write about Man; write about a man.”

“It is quite possible that an animal has spoken to me and that I didn’t catch the remark because I wasn’t paying attention.”

“The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year - the days when summer is changing into autumn - the crickets spread the rumour of sadness and change.”

“Wilbur didn’t want food, he wanted love.”

”A spider’s web is stronger than it looks. Although it is made of thin, delicate strands, the web is not easily broken.”

“In good time he was to discover that he was mistaken about Charlotte. Underneath her rather bold and cruel exterior, she had a kind heart, and she was to prove loyal and true to the very end.”

“From one to two, Wilbur planned to sleep. From two to three, he planned to scratch itchy places by rubbing against the fence. From three to four, he planned to stand perfectly still and think of what it was like to be alive, and to wait for Fern.”

“Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch.”

“The night seemed long. Wilbur’s stomach was empty and his mind was full. And when your stomach is empty and your mind is full, it’s always hard to sleep.”

“Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart.”

“If I can fool a bug... I can surely fool a man. People are not as smart as bugs.”

“I don’t understand it, and I don’t like what I don’t understand.”

“It is deeply satisfying to win a prize in front of a lot of people.”

“Meetings bore me.”

“These autumn days will shorten and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas will come, then the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world, for you mean a great deal to Zuckerman and he will not harm you, ever. Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur — this lovely world, these precious days…”

“No one had ever had such a friend—so affectionate, so loyal, and so skillful.”

“Ever since the spider had befriended him, he had done his best to live up to his reputation. When Charlotte’s web said SOME PIG, Wilbur had tried hard to look like some pig. When Charlotte’s web said TERRIFIC, Wilbur had tried to look terrific. And now that the web said RADIANT, he did everything possible to make himself glow.”

“We take to the breeze, we go as we please.”

“Nobody, of the hundreds of people that had visited the Fair, knew that a grey spider had played the most important part of all. No one was with her when she died.”

“The light strengthened, the mornings came sooner.”

“The quickest way to spoil a friendship is to wake somebody up in the morning before he is ready.”

“A miracle has happened and a sign has occurred here on earth, right on our farm, and we have no ordinary pig.” “Well,” said Mrs. Zuckerman, “it seems to me you’re a little off. It seems to me we have no ordinary spider.” “Oh, no,” said Zuckerman. “It’s the pig that’s unusual. It says so, right there in the middle of the web.” “Maybe.”

“Wilbur blushed. ‘But I’m not terrific, Charlotte. I’m just about average for a pig.‘”

“Well I am pretty. Nearly all spiders are good looking. I’m not as flashy as some, but I’ll do.”

“Salutations are greetings; it’s my fancy way of saying hello.”

“With the right words, you can change the world.”

“Chin up, chin up. Everybody loves a happy face.”

“Wilbur was modest; fame did not spoil him.”

“I’ve got a new friend, all right. But what a gamble friendship is!”

“But the truth was the drain had made him very slimy, and it was necessary for him to take a bath and sprinkle himself with a bit of his mother’s violet water before he felt himself again.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Little often discussed Stuart quietly between themselves when he wasn’t around, for they had never quite recovered from the shock and surprise of having a mouse in the family. He was so very tiny and presented so many problems to his parents.”

″‘After all, he does look a good deal like a mouse,’ said Mr. Little to his wife. ‘And I’ve never seen a mouse yet that didn’t like to go into a hole.‘”

“Stuart was a great help to his parents, and to his older brother George, because of his small size and because he could do things that a mouse can do and was agreeable about doing them.”

“I think we had better start thinking about the poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.’ I think it might embarrass Stuart to hear mice mentioned in such a belittling manner.”

“Mrs. Little saw right away that the infant clothes she had provided were unsuitable, and she set to work and made him a fine little blue worsted suit with patch pockets in which he could keep his handkerchief, his money, and his keys.”

“When Mrs. Frederick C. Little’s second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse. The truth of the matter was, the baby looked very much like a mouse in every way. He was only about two inches high; and he had a mouse’s sharp nose, a mouse’s tail, a mouse’s whiskers, and the pleasant, shy manner of a mouse.”

“Not every doctor can look into a mouse’s ear without laughing.”

“Unlike most babies, Stuart could walk as soon as he was born. When he was a week old he could climb lamps by shinnying up the cord.”

“Mr. Little said that, for one thing, there must be no references to “mice” in their conversations. He made Mrs. Little tear from the nursery songbook the page about the, ‘Three Blind Mice, See How They Run.’ ‘I don’t want Stuart to get a lot of notions in his head,’ said Mr. Little. ‘I should feel badly to have my son grow up fearing a farmer’s wife was going to cut off his tail with a carving knife.‘”