famous quotes by ernest hemingway
50 Famous Quotes by Ernest Hemingway
Call him a fervid writer or an alcoholic womanizer, Ernest Hemingway had a passionate persona, who lived life according to his rules. Let's take a glance through the story of a courageous warrior and an amazing writer through his quotes.
Hemingway Cats!
Hemingway was gifted a six-toed, Polydactyl cat that he named Snowball. He was so infatuated by it that in his Key West home, he let it run wild. Currently, there are around 50 descendants of Snowball that ramble around the house. Thus, Polydactyl felines are sometimes referred to as "Hemingway Cats."
Ernest Hemingway (July 21, 1899 - July 2, 1961), an American author and journalist has left an indelible mark on the history of American literature. Being an inspiration to many new and upcoming writers, he is indisputably one of the greatest writers ever. Not just the seven novels, six short story collections, and two nonfiction works published by him have barracked us, but his core beliefs and his lifestyle too.
He articulated the lessons of life in his novels like―A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Disregarding the rumors of his crazy behavior, we believe, he's an epitome of just the right amount of insane. Let's take a look at some of the hand-picked Hemingway quotes from his books or otherwise.
Quotes About Writing
The first draft of anything is shit.
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
There is no friend as loyal as a book.
As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand.
Write hard and clear about what hurts.
When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.
There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.
All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.
All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.
My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.
In order to write about life first you must live it.
If a writer stops observing he is finished. Experience is communicated by small details intimately observed.
Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure only death can stop it.
It's none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.
The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.
Love and Compassion
I am always in love.
― The Sun Also Rises
The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
Never to go on trips with anyone you do not love.
― A Moveable Feast
You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.
― The Sun Also Rises
I didn't want to kiss you goodbye - that was the trouble - I wanted to kiss you good night - and there's a lot of difference.
I'm not unfaithful, darling. I've plenty of faults but I'm very faithful. You'll be sick of me I'll be so faithful.
― A Farewell to Arms
The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.
― Men Without Women
I'm not brave any more darling. I'm all broken. They've broken me.
― A Farewell to Arms
"And you'll always love me won't you?"
"Yes."
"And the rain won't make any difference?"
"No."
― A Farewell to Arms
Life Lessons
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.
The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.
― A Farewell to Arms
The first and final thing you have to do in this world is to last it and not be smashed by it.
All things truly wicked start from innocence.
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
The only thing that could spoil a day was people. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.
― A Moveable Feast
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.
What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.
"But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
― The Old Man and the Sea
Now is no time
to think of what you do not have.
Think of what you can do
with that there is.
But life isn't hard to manage when you've nothing to lose.
― A Farewell to Arms
Courage is grace under pressure.
It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
There's no one thing that's true. It's all true.
― For Whom the Bell Tolls
You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering.
You know what makes a good loser? Practice.
Death is like an old whore in a bar--I'll buy her a drink but I won't go upstairs with her.
Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry: Worry never fixes anything.
Before you react, think.
Before you act, listen.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you spend, earn.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try.
Quotes on Boozing
Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.
I drink to make other people more interesting.
My training was never to drink after dinner nor before I wrote nor while I was writing.
― A Moveable Feast
This wine is too good for toast-drinking, my dear. You don't want to mix emotions up with a wine like that. You lose the taste.
― The Sun Also Rises
On Cats
One cat just leads to another.
A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.