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Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway Quotes

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Famous Ernest Hemingway Quotes

“Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.”

ThinkingSaidFunnyTeachFoodWise WordsDrinkMouthsDrinkingWittyAlcoholCleverDrunkBeerNovelistsShut UpSoberBad AssAlcoholismAlcoholicsDrankWhiskeyLiquorDrunkennessSobrietyCocktailsDrinking AlcoholDrinkersFunny DrinkingBeer DrinkingDrinking BeerGreat DrinkingFunny AlcoholAlcohol DrinkingDrinking FunnyGreat AlcoholDrinking WineFunny BeerBrewing BeerAlcohol And LifeDrinking WhiskeyFunny Beer DrinkingGetting DrunkGreat BeerWhiskey DrinkingBeer DrinkersCraft BeerBars DrinkingLiquor FunnySmoking And DrinkingThink Before You SpeakCocktail DrinksShots DrinkingBeer And WineIrish BeerAlcoholism FunnyDrinks And LoveDay DrinkingCollege DrinkingThink Before You ActDrinking PartyDrunk ManFunny BarDrinking With FriendsGetting Sober
Book:The Good Life According to Hemingway
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“The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day ... you will never be stuck. Always stop while you are going good and don't think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.”

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Author:Ernest Hemingway
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“I might say that what amateurs call a style is usually only the unavoidable awkwardnesses in first trying to make something that has not heretofore been made. Almost no new classics resemble other previous classics. At first people see only the awkwardness. Then they are not so perceptible. When they show so very awkwardly people think these awkwardnesses are the style and many copy them. This is regrettable.”

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Book:Conversations with Ernest Hemingway
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“How little we know of what there is to know. I wish that I were going to live a long time instead of going to die today because I have learned much about life in these four days; more, I think than in all other time. I'd like to be an old man to really know. I wonder if you keep on learning or if there is only a certain amount each man can understand. I thought I knew so many things that I know nothing of. I wish there was more time.”

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Author:Ernest Hemingway
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“I have watched them all day and they are the same men that we are. I believe that I could walk up to the mill and knock on the door and I would be welcome except that they have orders to challenge all travelers and ask to see their papers. It is only orders that come between us. Those men are not fascists. I call them so, but they are not. They are poor men as we are. They should never be fighting against us and I do not like to think of the killing.”

ThinkingMenShouldBelieveWould BeOrderFightingAsksI BelieveChallengesWalksPoorDoorsPaperKillingWelcomeTravelerPapersFascistsPoor ManMills
Author:Ernest Hemingway
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“But sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, 'Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.' So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there.”

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Book:The Hemingway Collection
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“You know lots of criticism is written by characters who are very academic and think it is a sign you are worthless if you make jokes or kid or even clown. I wouldn't kid Our Lord if he was on the cross. But I would attempt a joke with him if I ran into him chasing the money changers out of the temple.”

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Book:The Good Life According to Hemingway
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“Actually if a writer needs a dictionary he should not write. He should have read the dictionary at least three times from beginning to end and then have loaned it to someone who needs it. There are only certain words which are valid and similes (bring me my dictionary) are like defective ammunition (the lowest thing I can think of at this time).”

IfsThinkingNeedsShouldWritingI CanEndsCertainTimeThreeShould HaveLowestThree TimesSimileDictionaryDefectiveAmmunition
Book:Selected Letters, 1917-1961
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“I kept this to remind me of you trying to brush away the Villa Rossa from your teeth in the morning, swearing and eating aspirin and cursing harlots. Every time I see that glass I think of you trying to clean your conscience with a toothbrush.”

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Book:A Farewell to Arms: The Hemingway Library Edition
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“There is no night life in Spain. They stay up late but they get up late. That is not night life. That is delaying the day. Night life is when you get up with a hangover in the morning. Night life is when everybody says what the hell and you do not remember who paid the bill. Night life goes round and round and you look at the wall to make it stop. Night life comes out of a bottle and goes into a jar. If you think how much are the drinks it is not night life.”

IfsThinkingLooksRememberLife IsNightMorningHellWallDrinkLatePaidBillsRoundsGet UpBottlesSpainJarsHangoverNightlifeDay Night
Author:Ernest Hemingway
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