Humourists lead... an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats.

It was Lisa, aged five, whose mother asked her to thank my wife for the peas we had sent them from our garden. 'I thought the peas were awful, I wish you and Mrs. Thurber were dead, and I hate trees,' said Lisa.

A false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.

Where most of us end up there is no knowing, but the hellbent get where they are going.

I always begin at the left with the opening word of the sentence and read toward the right and I recommend this method.

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody's guess.

The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they've been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy.