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

—James Thurber

comedy taste libel

About James Thurber

Portrait of James Thurber

James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University (OSU), leaving in 1918 without graduating. He spent over a year in Paris, working for the US State Department as...

More quotations from James Thurber

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

—James Thurber

humor telephone

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

humor consciousness allergy sneezing

I loathe the expression "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.

—James Thurber

You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.

—James Thurber

You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.

—James Thurber

More quotations tagged with “taste”

The most solid advice… for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.

—William Saroyan

advice laughter living writing death taste food anger sleep

Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution of a conflict. Patience is not waiting passively until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient, we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later, and somewhere else. Let's be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.

—Henri J. M. Nouwen

patience present trust taste discipline control waiting live conflict tomorrow

Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.

—Charles M. Schulz

love taste food flavor peanut butter

Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.

—Samuel Johnson

music taste preference noise

I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.

—Marcel Duchamp

will taste contradiction

History

8 Dec 2014 Added