Ur-Texts: One Man's Meat

I cannot say enough good things about this collection of E.B. White's essays. I've been writing down favorite snippets from the ur-texts as I read them, and this one stumps me by revealing a gem every page or so. Consider: 

"Clearly the race today is between loud speaking and soft, between the things that are and the things that seem to be, between the chemist of RCA and the angel of God."

or

"I don't take a night journey on a railroad for the sake of duplicating the experiences and conveniences of my own home. When I travel I like to get into some new kind of difficulty, not just the same old trouble I put up with around the house."

or


"I recall a twinge of satisfaction in having a book banned: it suggested that my stuff might be more substantial than it appeared at first glace."

But I don't only love this book -- then it would be merely a favorite book, not an ur-text. These essays opened me up to the possibility that non-fiction could carry the power of fiction, and endeared the short form (approx. 1,000 words) to me as a writer. The straightforward, self-deprecating style of E.B. White is something I strive to emulate whenever I write.