The Best James Thurber quotes

Live life by the abc’s…adventure, bravery and creativity. — James Thurber

Nowadays most men lead lives of noisy desperation. — James Thurber

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

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

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

Walter Mitty: 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

Humourists lead… an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats. — James Thurber

You can fool too many people, too much of the time. — James Thurber

Time is for dragonflies and angels. The former live too little and the latter live too long. — James Thurber

Lately, I have been wondering if there is time left for daydreaming in this 21st–century world of constant communication. — James Thurber

Time lies frozen there. It’s always Then. It’s never Now. — James Thurber

Though statisticians in our time have never kept the score, Man wants a great deal here below and Woman even more. — James Thurber

The sanity of the average banquet speaker lasts about two and a half months; at the end of that time he begins to mutter to himself, and calls out in his sleep. — James Thurber

I hate women because they always remember where things are. — James Thurber

The oyster is a blob of glup, but a woman is a woman. — James Thurber

Women deserve to have more than 12 years between 28 and 40. — James Thurber

If I have sometimes seemed to make fun of Woman, I assure you it has only been for the purpose of egging her on. — James Thurber

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

Men are more interesting than women, but women ae more fascinating. — James Thurber

I hate women because they have brought into the currency of our language such expressions as ‘all righty’ and ‘yes indeedy’ and hundreds of others. — James Thurber

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

I was seized by the stern hand of Compulsion, that dark, unreasonable Urge that impels women to clean house in the middle of the night. — James Thurber

It takes that je ne sais quoi which we call sophistication for a woman to be magnificent in a drawing–room when her faculties have departed but she herself has not yet gone home. — James Thurber

It is better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all. — James Thurber

The trouble with the lost generation is that it didn’t get lost enough. — James Thurber

You are all a lost generation,’ Gertrude Stein said to Hemingway. We weren’t lost. We knew where we were, all right, but we wouldn’t go home. Ours was the generation that stayed up all night. — James Thurber

If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he would get the worst case of strabismus since Hannibal lost an eye trying to count his nineteen elephants during a snowstorm while crossing the Alps. — James Thurber

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

What would you do without me? Say ‘nothing.” ‘Nothing,’ said the Prince. ‘Good. Then you’re helpless and I’ll help you. — James Thurber

A woman’s place is in the wrong. — James Thurber

A dehoy who was terribly hobble, Cast only stones that were cobble And bats that were ding, From a shot that was sling, But never hit inks that were bobble. — James Thurber

I write humor the way a surgeon operates, because it is a livelihood, because I have a great urge to do it, because many interesting challenges are set up, and because I have the hope it may do some good. — James Thurber

The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they’ve been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy. — James Thurber

A false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act. — James Thurber

Remember laughter. You’ll need it even in the blessed isles of Ever After. — James Thurber

Writers of comedy have outlook, whereas writers of tragedy have, according to them, insight. — James Thurber

Let us not look back to the past with anger, nor towards the future with fear, but look around with awareness. — James Thurber

Humor and pathos, tears and laughter are, in the highest expression of human character and achievement, inseparable. — James Thurber

The wit makes fun of oTher persons The satirist makes fun of The world The humorist makes fun of himself. — James Thurber

Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility. — James Thurber

A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn’t make sense. — James Thurber

The difference between our decadence and the Russians is that while theirs is brutal, ours is apathetic. — James Thurber

A drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption. — James Thurber

One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough. — James Thurber

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. — James Thurber

A drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption. A word to the wise is not sufficient if it doesn’t make sense. — James Thurber

Youcanfooltoomanyofthepeopletoomuchofthetime. See Lincoln 510:35. — James Thurber

She wasn’t much to look at but she was something to think about. — James Thurber

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

I don’t remember any blue poodles. — James Thurber

Sean O’Connell: Sometimes I don’t. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it. — James Thurber

Mutual suspicions of mental inadequacy are common during the first year of any marriage. — James Thurber

There was an old coddle so molly, He talked in a glot that was poly, His gaws were so gew That his laps became dew, And he ate only pops that were lolly. — James Thurber

Cartoon caption:) I never really rallied after the birth of my first child. — James Thurber

Most of the faint intimations of immortality of which we are occasionally aware would seem to arise out of Art or the materials of Art. — James Thurber

Looks can be deceiving; it’s eating that’s believing. — James Thurber

I love the idea of there being two sexes, don’t you? — James Thurber