207 quotes
[W]hen he came out of the anaesthetic the first thing he said was, 'What a man Ernesto would be if he could only write.'
The Dangerous Summer (1985)
So far, about morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.
Death in the Afternoon (1932)
Wars are Spinach. Life in general is the tough part. In war all you have to do is not worry and know how to read a map and co-ordinates.
Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.
The Old Man and the Sea (1952)
In the morning there was a big wind blowing and the waves were running high up on the beach and he was awake a long time before he remembered that his heart was broken.
Men Without Women (short story collection) (1927)
At pier four there is a 34-foot yawl-rigged yacht with two of the three hundred and twenty-four Esthonians who are sailing around in different parts of the world, in boats between 28 and 36 feet long and sending back articles to the Esthonian newspapers.
To Have and Have Not (1937)
Being against evil doesn't make you good. Tonight I was against it and then I was evil myself.
Islands in the Stream (1970)
Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.
The Old Man and the Sea (1952)
But did thee feel the earth move?
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
The great thing is to last and get your work done and see and hear and learn and understand; and write when there is something that you know; and not before; and not too damned much after.
Death in the Afternoon (1932)
Anyone who goes on the sea the year around in a small power boat does not seek danger. You may be absolutely sure that in a year you will have it without seeking, so you try always to avoid it all you can.
The Old Man and the Sea (1952)
Things may not be immediately discernible in what a man writes, and in this sometimes he is fortunate; but eventually they are quite clear and by these and the degree of alchemy that he possesses he will endure or be forgotten.
Nobel Prize Speech (1954)
Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.
Introduction to Men at War (1942)
We had spoken about death without being morbid about it and I had told Antonio what I thought about it which is worthless since none of us knows anything about it.
The Dangerous Summer (1985)
What is the sense of ruining my head and erasing my memory, which is my capital, and putting me out of business? It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient. It's a bum turn, Hotch, terrible.
Papa Hemingway (1966)
You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see? You hang around cafés.
The Sun Also Rises (1926)
Personal columnists ... are jackals and no jackal has been known to live on grass once he had learned about meat — no matter who killed the meat for him.
A Letter from Cuba (1934)
'Why, you sad son-of-a-bitch, how can you be so cocky and stand there and block cars when you're nothing but a miserable bear and a black bear at that - not even a polar or a grizzly or anything worth while.'
Papa Hemingway (1966)
The worst death for anyone is to lose the center of his being, the thing he really is. Retirement is the filthiest word in the language. Whether by choice or by fate, to retire from what you do - and makes you what you are - is to back up into the grave.
Papa Hemingway (1966)
I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of medicine have a tendency to seek one another's company and aid in consultation. A doctor who cannot take out your appendix properly will recommend you to a doctor who will be unable to remove your tonsils with success.
A Farewell to Arms (1929)