James Thurber Quotes
1894–1961 United States
James Grover Thurber (8 December 1894 – 2 November 1961) was an American humorist and cartoonist.
- United States
- Cartoonists
- Editors
- Essayists
- Humorists
Also known as: Thurber, Thurber, James
Random James Thurber quote
60 quotes
He knows all about art, but he doesn't know what he likes.
Boys are perhaps beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of eighteen months and ninety years.
All right, have it your way — you heard a seal bark!
A pinch of probability is worth a pound of perhaps.
A burden in the bush is worth two on your hands.
Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.
Don't get it right, just get it written.
Women are wiser than men, because they know less and understand more.
If I have sometimes seemed to make fun of Woman, I assure you it has only been for the purpose of egging her on.
Le coeur a ses raisons, Mrs. Bence, que la raison ne connait pas.
The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms — hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.
The dog has got more fun out of Man than Man has got out of the dog, for the clearly demonstrable reason that Man is the more laughable of the two animals.
Somebody has said that woman's place is in the wrong. That's fine. What the wrong needs is a woman's presence and a woman's touch. She is far better equipped than men to set it right.
I am not a dog lover. A dog lover to me means a dog that is in love with another dog.
One [martini] is all right, two is too many, three is not enough.
Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair trigger balances, when a false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.
Lanterns and Lances (1961)
The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he identifies himself with people — that is, people everywhere, not for the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true nature.
Speed is scarcely the noblest virtue of graphic composition, but it has its curious rewards. There is a sense of getting somewhere fast, which satisfies a native American urge.
Preface to A Thurber Garland (1955)
The difference between our decadence and the Russians is that while theirs is brutal, ours is apathetic.
I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one, for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough, he might become disturbed.