Editing should be, especially in the case of old writers, a counseling rather than a collaborating task. The tendency of the writer-editor to collaborate is natural, but he should say to himself, ''How can I help this writer to say…

Quote by James Thurber

Topics: Writers Quotes

Some American writers who have known each other for years have never met in the...

Some American writers who have known each other for years have never met in the...

There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception.

There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception.

All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first.

All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first.

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

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

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

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

I used to wake up at 4 A.M. and start sneezing, sometimes for five hours....

I used to wake up at 4 A.M. and start sneezing, sometimes for five hours....

We all have faults, and mine is being wicked.

We all have faults, and mine is being wicked.

There is something about a poet which leads us to believe that he died, in...

There is something about a poet which leads us to believe that he died, in...

The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those...

The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those...

Humor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our...

Humor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our...

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

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

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known...

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known...

Love is composed of so many sensations, that something new of it can always be...

Love is composed of so many sensations, that something new of it can always be...

With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure...

With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure...

There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.

There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.

All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first

All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first

Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between...

Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between...

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

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

The most dangerous food is wedding cake.

The most dangerous food is wedding cake.

The difference between our decadence and the Russians' is that while theirs is brutal, ours...

The difference between our decadence and the Russians' is that while theirs is brutal, ours...