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"The animals that depend on instinct have an inherent knowledge of the laws of economics and of how to apply them; Man, with his powers of reason, has reduced economics to the level of a farce which is at once funnier and more tragic than Tobacco Road."
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"Never stop acquiring the commonsense, it is as good as the knowledge."
"You don't need to climb a mountain to know that it's high."
"Collecting facts is important. Knowledge is important. But if you don't have an imagination to use the knowledge, civilization is nowhere."
"The ruin of a man's teaching comes of his followers, such as having never touched the foundation he has laid, build upon it wood, hay, and stubble, fit only to be burnt. Therefore, if only to avoid his worst foes, his admirers, a man should avoid system. The more correct a system the worse will it be misunderstood; its professed admirers will take both its errors and their misconceptions of its truths, and hold them forth as its essence."
"Every fiction has its base in fact."
"If I want to understand an individual human being, I must lay aside all scientific knowledge of the average man and discard all theories in order to adopt a completely new and unprejudiced attitude. I can only approach the task of understanding with a free and open mind, whereas knowledge of man, or insight into human character, presupposes all sorts of knowledge about mankind in general."
Explore more quotes by James Thurber
"The nation that complacently and fearfully allows its artists and writers to become suspected rather than respected is no longer regarded as a nation possessed with humor or depth."
"The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody's guess."
"Man has gone long enough, or even too long, without being man enough to face the simple truth that the trouble with man is man."
"Unless artists can remember what it was to be a little boy, they are only half complete as artist and as man."
"It's a naive domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption."
"The difference between our decadence and the Russians' is that while theirs is brutal, ours is apathetic."
"The sanity of the average banquet speaker lasts about two and a half months; at the end of that time he begins to mutter to himself, and calls out in his sleep."
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