There is nothing more likely to start disagreement among people or countries than an agreement.

Meaning of the quote

This quote means that when people or countries make an agreement, it can actually lead to more disagreements and conflicts. Even though the agreement was supposed to bring everyone together, it often ends up causing new problems and arguments instead. The idea is that agreements don't always work out the way we expect, and sometimes they can make things worse rather than better.

About E. B. White

E.B. White was a renowned American writer who authored several beloved children’s books, including the classics Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web, and The Trumpet of the Swan. He was also a contributing editor to The New Yorker magazine and co-author of the influential writing guide The Elements of Style.

More about the author

More quotes from E. B. White

Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

The world organization debates disarmament in one room and, in the next room, moves the knights and pawns that make national arms imperative.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Old age is a special problem for me because I’ve never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself – a lad of about 19.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education – sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across the street.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

The critic leaves at curtain fall To find, in starting to review it, He scarcely saw the play at all For starting to review it.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

The terror of the atom age is not the violence of the new power but the speed of man’s adjustment to it, the speed of his acceptance.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

When I was a child people simply looked about them and were moderately happy; today they peer beyond the seven seas, bury themselves waist deep in tidings, and by and large what they see and hear makes them unutterably sad.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Writing is hard work and bad for the health.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

I can only assume that your editorial writer tripped over the First Amendment and thought it was the office cat.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a Ferris wheel.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

The only sense that is common in the long run, is the sense of change and we all instinctively avoid it.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

I don’t know which is more discouraging, literature or chickens.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Be obscure clearly.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Commas in The New Yorker fall with the precision of knives in a circus act, outlining the victim.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

There is nothing more likely to start disagreement among people or countries than an agreement.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

All we need is a meteorologist who has once been soaked to the skin without ill effect. No one can write knowingly of the weather who walks bent over on wet days.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

The trouble with the profit system has always been that it was highly unprofitable to most people.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

There’s no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

A writer is like a bean plant – he has his little day, and then gets stringy.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)

It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet; the bylaws are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members.

E. B. White

American author (1899-1985)