There are two kinds of light—the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.

—James Thurber

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

There's nothing like a gleam of humor to reassure you that a fellow human being is ticking inside a strange face.

—James Thurber

The paths of glory at least lead to the grave, but the paths of duty may not get you any where.

—James Thurber

death glory duty

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

fear electricity suspicion mother

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

—James Thurber

difference conformity

It had only one fault. It was kind of lousy.

—James Thurber

More quotations tagged with “light”

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.

Shadow owes its birth to light.

light birth shadow

Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star.

—Lucy Maud Montgomery

light stars night

The artist vocation is to send light into the human heart.

art heart light

We borrow the light of an observant and imaginative traveler and see the foreign land bright with his aura; and we think it is the country which shines.

—H. M. Tomlinson

History

11 Jul 2015 Added
26 Oct 2026 Wording changed

Previous wording

There are two kinds of light--the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.