Biography

As a child, he was hit in the eye with an arrow. He lost his sight in that eye, and was troubled by vision problems for years, which kept him out of the military. He was totally blind for the last 26 years of his life, but was able to continue writing by dictating to a secretary. Thurber's memory was so strong he could compose a 2,000-word story in his mind, remember it overnight, and dictate it to his secretary the next day.

Once rewrote Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem, "The Raven", and told it from the viewpoint of the bird.

Was a dog lover and competed in several shows with his poodles.

Pictured on a 29¢ US commemorative postage stamp in the Literary Arts series, issued 10 September 1994, celebrating the centennial of his birth.

Only child, daughter Rosemary, born October 7, 1931.

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.

A woman's place is in the wrong.

Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy, and dead.

It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all the answers.

Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?