The American Cartoonist, author, journalist, and playwright James Thurber was well known for his short stories, cartoons, and numerous books.
The works of this famous cartoonist were mostly published in 'The New Yorker'. Apart from his regular work with 'The New Yorker', Thurber was the author of various famous books like 'The White Deer', 'The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty', and 'Further Fables for Our Time'.
Apart from being a well-known cartoonist and author in New York, Thurber was also celebrated for his wit and humor. As a cartoonist, James Thurber used to draw many dogs and family life for 'The New Yorker'.
Sayings and quotes by James Thurber are filled with humor and motivation. Thurber has inspired many aspiring New York writers to pursue their dream. Here's a list of James Thurber quotes that are full of positivity.
If you like reading quotes, check out other quotes articles[E.B. white quotes] and [drawing quotes].
Best James Thurber Quotes
James Thurber quotes and sayings can make anybody smile and feel positive. Check out this list of the James Thurber quotes and sayings.
1. "There are two kinds of light - the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures."
- James Thurber.
2. "If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons."
- James Thurber.
3. "Man has gone long enough, or even too long, without being man enough to face the simple truth that the trouble with man is man."
- James Thurber.
4. "She has a memory of trees and fields and nothing more."
- James Thurber, 'The White Deer'.
5. "I always begin at the left with the opening word of the sentence and read toward the right and I recommend this method."
- James Thurber.
6. "The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms -hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal."
- James Thurber.
7. "I think that maybe if women and children were in charge we would get somewhere."
- James Thurber.
8. "The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself."
- James Thurber.
9. "Quick, name some towns in New Jersey."
- James Thurber.
10. "To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life."
- James Thurber, 'The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty'.
11. "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."
- James Thurber.
12. "He knows all about art, but he doesn't know what he likes."
- James Thurber.
13. "There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception."
- James Thurber.
14. "It is all but impossible to sit quietly by when someone is throwing salad plates."
- James Thurber.
15. "I always begin at the left with the opening word of the sentence and read toward the right and I recommend this method."
- James Thurber.
16. "I myself have known some profoundly thoughtful dogs."
- James Thurber.
17. "These are the days of bootleg love."
- James Thurber.
18. "Dogs are obsessed with being happy."
- James Thurber.
19. "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and the angels are all in Heaven, but few of the fools are dead."
- James Thurber, 'Further Fables For Our Time'.
20. "Discussion in America means dissent."
- James Thurber.
21. "Lately, I have been wondering if there is time left for daydreaming in this 21st-century world of constant communication."
- James Thurber, 'The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty'.
Famous James Thurber Quotes
Listed below are some famous James Thurber quotes.
22. "Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around us in awareness."
- James Thurber.
23. "Nowadays most men lead lives of noisy desperation."
- James Thurber, 'Further Fables For Our Time'.
24. "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."
- James Thurber.
25. "Laughter need not be cut out of anything, since it improves everything."
- James Thurber.
26. "I used to wake up at 4 A.M. and start sneezing, sometimes for five hours. I tried to find out what sort of allergy I had but finally came to the conclusion that it must be an allergy to consciousness."
- James Thurber.
27. "Columbus is a town in which almost anything is likely to happen, and in which almost everything has."
- James Thurber.
28. "Beautiful things don't ask for attention."
- James Thurber, 'The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty'.
29. "Her own mother lived the latter years of her life in the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house."
- James Thurber.
30. "Love is the strange bewilderment that overtakes one person on account of another person."
- James Thurber.
31. "She wasn't much to look at but she was something to think about."
- James Thurber.
32. "Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear."
- James Thurber.
33. "There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else."
- James Thurber.
34. "Time lies frozen there. It's always Then. It's never Now."
- James Thurber, 'The 13 Clocks'.
35. "You can fool too many people, too much of the time."
- James Thurber.
36. "I hate women because they always remember where things are."
- James Thurber.
37. "My opposition to Interviews lies in the fact that offhand answers have little value or grace of expression, and that such oral give and take helps to perpetuate the decline of the English language."
- James Thurber.
38. "Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more."
- James Thurber.
39. "The noblest study of mankind is Man, says Man."
- James Thurber, 'Further Fables For Our Time'.
40. "My own earliest memory is of accompanying my father to a polling booth in Columbus, Ohio, where he voted for William McKinley."
- James Thurber, 'The Thurber Carnival'.
41. "I have the reputation for having read all of Henry James. Which would argue a misspent youth and middle age."
- James Thurber.
42. "The jewels of sorrow last forever"
- James Thurber.
43. "The brambles and the thorns grew thick and thicker in a ticking thicket of bickering crickets. Farther along and stronger, bonged the gongs of a throng of frogs, green and vivid on their lily pads."
- James Thurber, 'The 13 Clocks'.
44. "Hundreds of hysterical persons must confuse these phenomena with messages from the beyond and take their glory to the bishop rather than the eye doctor."
- James Thurber.
45. "Surely no other American institution is so bound around and tightened up by rules, strictures, adages, and superstitions as the Broadway theatre."
- James Thurber
Motivational James Thurber Quotes
James Thurber Quotes and sayings are motivational and fun to read. These quotes of James Thurber are from 'The New Yorker', his famous books, and some of his interviews. Take a look at these motivational James Thurber quotes.
46. "All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why."
- James Thurber.
47. "Time is for dragonflies and angels. The former live too little and the latter live too long."
- James Thurber.
48. "With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs."
- James Thurber.
49. "Man has always assumed that his is the highest form of life in the universe. There is, of course, nothing at all with which to sustain this view."
- James Thurber.
50. "Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?"
- James Thurber.
51. "A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn't make sense."
- James Thurber.
52. "A false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act."
- James Thurber.
53. "Against the may, the could be, and the should, folly 'tis to balance doubt or hope."
- James Thurber, 'The White Deer'.
54. "Art – the one achievement of man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised"
- James Thurber.
55. "Where most of us end up there is no knowing, but the hellbent get where they are going."
- James Thurber.
56. "You'll never live to wed his niece. You'll only die to feed his geese."
- James Thurber, 'The 13 Clocks'.
57. "The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody's guess."
- James Thurber.
Funny James Thurber Quotes
These James Thurber quotes and sayings are full of humor and wit. You absolutely cannot miss these hilarious James Thurber quotes and sayings.
58. "Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?"
- James Thurber.
59. "We all have faults, mine is being wicked."
- James Thurber.
60. "For one thing, she pronounced flowers' flars' and I couldn't let it slide."
- James Thurber.
61. "Men are more interesting than women, but women are more fascinating."
- James Thurber.
62. "There is something about a poet which leads us to believe that he died, in many cases, as long as 20 years before his birth."
- James Thurber.
63. "Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy, wealthy, and dead."
- James Thurber.
64. "Progress was all right. Only it went on too long."
- James Thurber.
65. "The most dangerous food is wedding cake."
- James Thurber.
66. "Americans want to go to heaven without dying."
- James Thurber.
67. "Some American writers who have known each other for years have never met in the daytime or when both were sober."
- James Thurber.
68. "Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years."
- James Thurber.
69. "You can fool too many of the people too much of the time. See Lincoln 510:35."
- James Thurber.
70. "One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough."
- James Thurber.
71. "I am not a cat man, but a dog man, and all felines can tell this at a glance - a sharp, vindictive glance."
- James Thurber.
72. "Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility."
- James Thurber.
73. "Looks can be deceiving; it's eating that's believing."
- James Thurber.
74. "It had only one fault. It was kind of lousy."
- James Thurber.
75. "The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those of libel."
- James Thurber.
76. "The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his."
- James Thurber.
77. "All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first."
- James Thurber.
78. "Things have dropped from me. I have outlived certain desires; I have lost friends, some by death... others through sheer inability to cross the street."
- James Thurber.
79. "If you are a police dog, where's your badge?"
- James Thurber.
Inspirational James Thurber Quotes
James Thurber quotes and sayings does not only inspire every aspiring cartoonist and author, but every person out there. Listed below are some inspiring James Thurber quotes and sayings.
80. "He who hesitates is sometimes saved."
- James Thurber.
81. "Sixty minutes of thinking of any kind is bound to lead to confusion and unhappiness."
- James Thurber.
82. "Man is flying too fast for a world that is round. Soon he will catch up with himself in a great rear end collision."
- James Thurber.
83. "Unless artists can remember what it was to be a little boy, they are only half complete as artist and as man."
- James Thurber.
84. "Well, I'm disenchanted, too. We're all disenchanted."
- James Thurber, 'The Thurber Carnival'.
85. "A drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption."
- James Thurber.
86. "It is more dangerous to strong-arm life than to embrace it."
- James Thurber, 'Further Fables For Our Time'.
87. "The Old Man ain't afraid of hell"
- James Thurber.
88. "There was a mist of moss to ride through and a storm of glass."
- James Thurber, 'The White Deer'.
89. "Writers of comedy have outlook, whereas writers of tragedy have, according to them, insight."
- James Thurber.
90. "In the pathways between office and home and home and the houses of settled people there are always, ready to snap at you, the little perils of routine living, but there is no escape in the unplanned tangent, the sudden turn."
- James Thurber, 'My Life And Hard Times'.
91. "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."
- James Thurber.
92. "I don't believe the writer should know too much where he's going. If he does, he runs into old man blueprint-old man propaganda."
- James Thurber.
93. "I can feel a thing I cannot touch and touch a thing I cannot feel. The first is sad and sorry, the second is your heart."
- James Thurber, 'The 13 Clocks'.
94. "From the sky came the crying of flies, and the pilgrims leaped over a bleating sheep creeping knee-deep in a sleepy stream, in which swift and slippery snakes slid and slithered silkily, whispering sinful secrets."
- James Thurber.
95. "I am the Golux, the only Golux in the world and not a mere device."
- James Thurber.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for James Thurber quotes then why not take a look at cartoon quotes, or [A.A. Milne quotes]?
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