It is by all odds the loftiest of cities. It even managed to reach the highest point in the sky at the lowest moment of the depression.
E. B. WhiteRead
We are such docile creatures, normally, that it takes a virus to jolt us out of life's routine. A couple of days in a fever bed are, in a sense, health-giving; the change in body temperature, the change in pulse , and the change of scene have a restorative effect on the system equal to the hell they raise.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that it often takes a significant disruption, like illness, to break up our established routines and bring about positive change.
E. B. White reflects on the nature of human beings as generally compliant and accustomed to routine, illustrating how a virus or illness can serve as a catalyst for change. Even though the experience may be uncomfortable and challenging, the resulting shift in our physical state and environment can have a restorative effect, highlighting the paradox that sometimes adversity can lead to beneficial outcomes.
Themes
ChangeRoutineVirusRestorationHealthAdversity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about resilience, one could quote E. B. White to emphasize how challenges can lead to personal growth.
More from E. B. White
All quotes →It isn't silence you can cut with a knife any more, it's interchange of ideas. Intelligent discussion of practically everything is what is breaking up modern marriage.
E. B. WhiteRead
The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. Because I have the greatest respect for the reader, and if he's going to the trouble of reading what I've written -- I'm a slow reader myself and I guess most people are -- why, the least I can do is make it as easy as possible for him to find out what I'm trying to say, trying to get at. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.
E. B. WhiteRead
A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.
E. B. WhiteRead
A despot doesn't fear eloquent writers preaching freedom- he fears a drunken poet who may crack a joke that will take hold.
E. B. WhiteRead
All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelation-it is the Self-escaping into the open.
E. B. WhiteRead
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The fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman's sigh as she passes and leaves on the air a trail of orange flower or rose water; her hand pulling close the bed curtain, the discreet sigh of flesh against flesh.
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No one makes a revolution by himself; and there are some revolutions which humanity accomplishes without quite knowing how, because it is everybody who takes them in hand.
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Through discipline, and determination one can change anything and everything about him - his habits, his outlook on life
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Thus the regime has deprived Iranian women not just of their present rights, but also of their history and their past.
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Sometimes you got to hurt something to help something. Sometimes you have to plow under one thing in order for something else to grow.
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