James Thurber Quotes

Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you an... -James Thurber

Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody's guess.

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.

Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybo... -James Thurber

Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?

Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.

Discovering the context

This quote suggests that humor often arises from chaotic or turbulent emotional experiences but is recalled or expressed in a state of calmness or tranquility. It highlights the transformative nature of humor.

I'm 65 and I guess that puts me in with the geriatrics. But if there were fifteen months in every year, I'd only be 48. That's the trouble with us. We number everything. Take women, for example. I think they deserve to have more than twelve years between the ages of 28 and 40.

The nation that complacently and fearfully allows its artists and writers to become suspected rather than respected is no longer regarded as a nation possessed with humor or depth.

Progress was all right. Only it went on too long.

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear... -James Thurber

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.

It is better to know some of the questions than al... -James Thurber

It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.

But what is all this fear of and opposition to Oblivion? What is the matter with the soft Darkness, the Dreamless Sleep?

Comedy has to be done en clair. You can't blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.

I think that maybe if women and children were in c... -James Thurber

I think that maybe if women and children were in charge we would get somewhere.

Love is what you've been through with somebody.

Women are wiser than men because they know less an... -James Thurber

Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more.

Discovering the context

This quote playfully suggests that women's wisdom stems from their acknowledgment of knowing less in comparison to men, yet having a deeper understanding or insight into various matters.

Old age is the most unexpected of all the things t... -James Thurber

Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that can happen to a man.

The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy, cannot be understood unless one sits among the audience and feels the warmth created by the quality of laughter that the audience takes home with it.

The most dangerous food is wedding cake.

All men should strive to learn before they die, wh... -James Thurber

All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.

Humor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our greatest earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all cost.

I hate women because they always know where things... -James Thurber

I hate women because they always know where things are.

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 Quotes

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