James Thurber Quotes

A pinch of probability is worth a pound of perhaps.

James Thurber

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• At school, I'd refuse to take part in biology lessons when animals were being dissected. One time, the teacher announced that we would be gassing worms. So I ran around the room, gathered up all the worms and set them free in the fields. I just loved animals and couldn't bear the thought of them suffering.

  

  Imelda May
  • Up
  • Time
  • School

• Neither science, nor the politics in power, nor the mass media, nor business, nor the law nor even the military are in a position to define or control risks rationally.

  

  Ulrich Beck
  • Business
  • Power
  • Science

• Court proceedings, except for certain limited situations, are open to the public. This is for the protection of the accused, to be certain to ascertain that there is a fair trial.

  

  Walter Cronkite
  • Protection
  • Open
  • Court

• When I look in the mirror, I don't see a person who's made the kind of impact that Mia Hamm made on the game. She's still my idol, the greatest player and the greatest teammate. She achieved so much in so many different ways. What she did for women's soccer can't be measured.

  

  Abby Wambach
  • Different
  • Women
  • She

• The big businesses are less willing to take risks. I talked to some young people in Hong Kong, and they said they are lost. Young people indeed have fewer opportunities than before. But is it true that there are no more opportunities for them? No!

  

  Jack Ma
  • People
  • True
  • Lost

• I'm so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self. Welcome to the world, Caitlyn. Can't wait for you to get to know her/me.

  

  Caitlyn Jenner
  • World
  • Long
  • True

• Not that I want to put the entire rap music style down - I just don't like it. And I know somewhere there's gotta be another guy like that. There's gotta be a guy just like that - just like me. There's gotta be somebody, somewhere... Maybe, maybe an assassin type.

  

  Sam Kinison
  • Music
  • Guy
  • Me

• When you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything.

  

  Maggie Smith
  • You
  • Lucky
  • Anything

• Soon after my degree, in 1958 I went to the United States to enlarge my experience and to familiarize myself with particle accelerators. I spent about one and a half years at Columbia University.

  

  Carlo Rubbia
  • Experience
  • Myself
  • Years

• People don't want to give up their SUVs. They don't want to turn the thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer.

  

  Ed Begley, Jr.
  • People
  • Up
  • Summer

• I've learned that if one is arrogant and if something bad happens to him, people won't want him to succeed. They will make more of an effort to bring him down.

  

  Lapo Elkann
  • People
  • Bad
  • Want

• I've been DJing mostly, and most DJs end up producing. That's just me.

  

  Idris Elba
  • Me
  • End
  • Producing

• Ooh, it's too embarrassing to share my innermost romantic secrets - although I have written Danielle the odd poem. If anything they are more comedic than romantic. They used to be well-received but that was before she started studying Shakespeare at drama college. Now I feel so inept.

  

  Gary Lineker
  • She
  • College
  • Drama

• You're not going to get a chance to vote for me on the ballot, but you can actually vote for what I believe in.

  

  Carl Lewis
  • Believe
  • Chance
  • Vote

• I like guitar. It just turned out that it's the instrument I learned to play. I have a lot of respect for it, and I'm learning more and more every day. For me, the classic band setup - guitars, drums, bass - will stay fresh forever. I don't know. I'm still into it.

  

  Mac DeMarco
  • Respect
  • Day
  • Learning

• There was an exhibition in Munich in 1937, 'Degenerate Art,' which included work by Klee, Kandinsky, Beckmann and many others. The work was called 'sick' and put in the trash heap. The sentiments expressed toward contemporary art by Jesse Helms, Pat Robertson and Mayor Giuliani recall the language used by the Nazis.

  

  Hans Haacke
  • Work
  • Art
  • Language

• I feel like by me putting on a couple more pounds will help my game tremendously. Putting on 10-15 pounds will help me stop the run better and be a more dominant pass rusher.

  

  Gaines Adams
  • Help
  • Game
  • Me

• A spectacular anomaly came up with the hydrides of the nonmetals-an ugly bunch, about as inimical to life as one could get. Arsenic and antimony hydrides were very poisonous and smelly; silicon and phosphorous hydrides were spontaneously inflammable. I had made in my lab the hydrides of sulfur (H

  

  Oliver Sacks
  • Life
  • Up
  • Ugly

• The most violent revolutions in an individuals beliefs leave most of his old order standing. Time and space, cause and effect, nature and history, and ones own biography remain untouched. New truth is always a go-between, a smoother-over of transitions. It marries old opinion to new fact so as ever to show a minimum of jolt, a maximum of continuity.

  

  William James
  • Opinion
  • Revolution
  • Belief

• The idea of coup plotters sharing their plan to oust an incumbent president with a reporter is ludicrous. Nevertheless, such unfounded reports give the Philippines a negative image before the international community.

  

  Eduardo Ermita
  • Community
  • Idea
  • President

• The real damper on employee engagement is the soggy, cold blanket of centralized authority. In most companies, power cascades downwards from the CEO. Not only are employees disenfranchised from most policy decisions, they lack even the power to rebel against egocentric and tyrannical supervisors.

  

  Gary Hamel
  • Real
  • Power
  • Cold

• When I first ran for Congress, I went to my daughter Alexandra, who was going to be a senior in high school, and said: 'I have a chance to run. I may not win, but I'd be gone three nights a week. So, if you want me to stay, I'll be happy to.' And do you know what she said to me? 'Mother, get a life!'

  

  Nancy Pelosi
  • Life
  • School
  • May

• A pinch of probability is worth a pound of perhaps.

  

  James Thurber