Zitate von James Thurber

„Ein Martini ist genau richtig. Zwei sind zu viele. Drei sind nicht genug.“

—  James Thurber

zitiert im Time Magazine (New York, 15. August 1960) aus einem Interview mit Glenna Syse von der Chicago Sun-Times
Original engl.: "One (martini) is all right, two is too many, three is not enough."

„Beautiful things don't ask for attention.“

—  James Thurber, buch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Quelle: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

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

—  James Thurber

"The Shore and the Sea", Further Fables for Our Time (first publication, 1956)
From Fables for Our Time and Further Fables for Our Time

„Don't get it right, just get it written.“

—  James Thurber

"The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing", The New Yorker (29 April 1939); Fables for Our Time & Famous Poems Illustrated (1940). The moral is ironic with respect to the fable, in which sheep do insufficient research before writing about wolves, resulting in the sheep being easy prey.
From Fables for Our Time and Further Fables for Our Time
Variante: Don't get it right, just get it written.

„Two is company, four is a party, three is a crowd. One is a wanderer.“

—  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

„Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.“

—  James Thurber

Quoted in New York Post (29 February 1960)
Letters and interviews

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

—  James Thurber

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

—  James Thurber

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

—  James Thurber

"The Scotty Who Knew Too Much", The New Yorker (18 February 1939)
From Fables for Our Time and Further Fables for Our Time

„There are two kinds of light — the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures.“

—  James Thurber

Lanterns and Lances‎ (1961), p. 146; also misquoted as "There are two kinds of light — the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures."
From Lanterns and Lances‎

„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

„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

„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

Quelle: Selected Letters

„She wasn't much to look at but she was something to think about.“

—  James Thurber

„Love is what you've been through with somebody“

—  James Thurber

„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.“

—  James Thurber

"The Darlings at the Top of the Stairs", Lanterns & Lances (1961); previously appeared in The Queen and in Harper's Magazine.
From Lanterns and Lances‎

„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

"An Introduction", The Fireside Book of Dog Stories (Simon and Schuster, 1943); reprinted in Thurber's Dogs (1955)
From other writings

„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.“

—  James Thurber

"Carpe Noctem, If You Can", Credos and Curios (1962)
From other writings