I Believe That Basically You Write For Two People; Yourself To Try To Make It Absolutely Perfect; Or If Not That Then Wonderful. Then You Write For Who You Love Whether She Can Read Or Write Or Not And Whether She Is Alive Or Dead.

-Ernest Hemingway

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I Believe That Basically

Ernest Hemingway

Topic

Believe

Writing

Two

More From Ernest Hemingway

How Do You Tell A Valuable French Book?' 'first There Are The Pictures. Then It Is A Question Of The Quality Of The Pictures. Then It Is The Binding. If A Book Is Good, The Owner Will Have It Bound Properly. All Books In English Are Bound, But Bound Badly. There Is No Way Of Judging Them.

Book

Judging

Quality

The Most Beautiful Fighting Machine I Have Ever Seen

Beautiful

Fighting

Machines

There Will Always Be People Who Say It Does Not Exist Because They Cannot Have It. But I Tell You It Is True And That You Have It And That You Are Lucky Even If You Die Tomorrow.

People

Doe

Lucky

I Am Glad We Do Not Have To Try To Kill The Stars.

Stars

Trying

Old Man

Why Did They Make Birds So Delicate And Fine As Those Sea Swallows When The Ocean Can Be So Cruel?

Ocean

Sea

Bird

Everything That's Innocent To Us Is Crazy To Them.

Crazy

Innocent

No, That Is The Great Fallacy: The Wisdom Of Old Men. They Do Not Grow Wise. They Grow Careful.

Life

Wise

Wisdom

Try And Write Straight English; Never Using Slang Except In Dialogue And Then Only When Unavoidable. Because All Slang Goes Sour In A Short Time. I Only Use Swear Words, For Example, That Have Lasted At Least A Thousand Years For Fear Of Getting Stuff That Will Be Simply Timely And Then Go Sour.

Writing

Years

Trying

The Old Man Looked At Him With His Sun-burned, Confident Loving Eyes.

Eye

Men

Sun

The Story Was Writing Itself And I Was Having A Hard Time Keeping Up With It.

Writing

Hard Times

Time Keeping

In The Spring Mornings I Would Work Early While My Wife Still Slept. The Windows Were Open Wide And The Cobbles Of The Street Were Drying After The Rain.

Morning

Spring

Rain

Up The Road, In His Shack, The Old Man Was Sleeping Again. He Was Still Sleeping On His Face And The Boy Was Sitting By Him Watching Him. The Old Man Was Dreaming About The Lions.

Dream

Sleep

Boys

I Started Out Very Quiet And I Beat Mr. Turgenev. Then I Trained Hard And I Beat Mr. De Maupassant. I've Fought Two Draws With Mr. Stendhal, And I Think I Had An Edge In The Last One. But Nobody's Going To Get Me In Any Ring With Mr. Tolstoy Unless I'm Crazy Or I Keep Getting Better.

Crazy

Thinking

Two

America Is The Land Of Wide Lawns And Narrow Minds.

America

Land

Mind

Now I Am Depressed Myself,' I Said. 'that's Why I Never Think About These Things. I Never Think And Yet When I Begin To Talk I Say The Things I Have Found Out In My Mind Without Thinking.

Thinking

Mind

Found

I'm Not Going To Get Into The Ring With Tolstoy.

Witty

Powerful

Humorous

Every Day Above Earth Is A Good Day.

Good Day

Earth

Some People Show Evil As A Great Racehorse Shows Breeding. They Have The Dignity Of A Hard Chancre.

People

Evil

Dignity

The Further You Go In Writing The More Alone You Are. Most Of Your Best And Oldest Friends Die. Others Move Away. You Do Not See Them Except Rarely, But You Write And Have Much The Same Contact With Them As Though You Were Together At The Café In The Old Days. You Exchange Comic, Sometimes Cheerfully Obscene And Irresponsible Letters, And It Is Almost As Good As Talking. But You Are More Alone Because That Is How You Must Work And The Time To Work Is Shorter All The Time And If You Waste It You Feel You Have Committed A Sin For Which There Is No Forgiveness.

Moving

Writing

Talking

I've Seen You, Beauty, And You Belong To Me Now, Whoever You Are Waiting For And If I Never See You Again, I Thought. You Belong To Me And All Paris Belongs To Me And I Belong To This Notebook And This Pencil.

Notebook

Paris

Waiting

Wine Is One Of The Most Civilized Things In The World And One Of The Most Natural Things Of The World That Has Been Brought To The Greatest Perfection, And It Offers A Greater Range For Enjoyment And Appreciation Than, Possibly, Any Other Purely Sensory Thing.

Appreciation

Wine

Civilization

Every Damn Thing Is Your Own Fault, If You Are Any Good.

Faults

Damn

Damn Things

Everything About Him Was Old Except His Eyes And They Were The Same Color As The Sea And Were Cheerful And Undefeated.

Eye

Color

Sea

Worry Destroys The Ability To Write.

Writing

Worry

Ability

Cheer Up,' I Said. 'all Countries Look Just Like The Moving Pictures.

Country

Cheer

Moving

To Hell With Them. Nothing Hurts If You Don't Let It.

Hurt

Bad Ass

Hell

All Thinking Men Are Atheists.

Inspirational

Death

Atheist

But You Always Fall For Somebody Else And Then It's All Right. Fall For Them But Don't Let Them Ruin You.

Fall

Ruins

I Learned Never To Empty The Well Of My Writing, But Always To Stop When There Was Still Something There In The Deep Part Of The Well, And Let It Refill At Night From The Springs That Fed It.

Powerful

Spring

Writing

It Is By Riding A Bicycle That You Learn The Contours Of A Country Best, Since You Have To Sweat Up The Hills And Coast Down Them. Thus You Remember Them As They Actually Are, While In A Motor Car Only A High Hill Impresses You, And You Have No Such Accurate Remembrance Of The Country You Have Driven Through As You Gain By Riding A Bicycle.

Inspirational

Country

Cycling

Worry Destroys The Ability To Write. Ill Health Is Bad In The Ratio That It Produces Worry Which Attacks Your Subconscious And Destroys Your Reserves.

Writing

Ill Health

Worry

He No Longer Dreamed Of Storms, Nor Of Women, Nor Of Great Occurrences, Nor Of Great Fish, Nor Fights, Nor Contests Of Strength, Nor Of His Wife. He Only Dreamed Of Places Now And The Lions On The Beach. They Played Like Young Cats In The Dusk And He Loved Them As He Loved The Boy. He Never Dreamed About The Boy. He Simply Woke, Looked Out The Open Door At The Moon And Unrolled His Trousers And Put Them On.

Beach

Cat

Fighting

You’re My Religion. You’re All I’ve Got.

Farewell To Arms

Our Nada Who Art In Nada, Nada Be Thy Name Thy Kingdom Nada Thy Will Be Nada In Nada As It Is In Nada. Give Us This Nada Our Daily Nada And Nada Us Our Nada As We Nada Our Nadas And Nada Us Not Into Nada But Deliver Us From Nada; Pues Nada. Hail Nothing Full Of Nothing, Nothing Is With Thee.

Art

Prayer

Names

If A Writer Stops Observing He Is Finished. Experience Is Communicated By Small Details Intimately Observed.

Writing

Details

Finished

A Person With Increasing Knowledge And Sensory Education May Derive Infinite Enjoyment From Wine.

Wine

May

Infinite

He Rested Sitting On The Un-stepped Mast And Sail And Tried Not To Think But Only To Endure.

Thinking

Sitting

Sail

The Best Way Is To Read It All Every Day From The Start, Correcting As You Go Along, Then Go On From Where You Stopped The Day Before. When It Gets So Long That You Can't Do This Every Day Read Back Two Or Three Chapters Each Day; Then Each Week Read It All From The Start. That's How You Make It All Of One Piece.

Writing

Two

Long

One Battle Doesn't Make A Campagin, But Critics Treat One Book, Good Or Bad, Like A Whole War.

War

Book

Battle

In War, One Cannot Say What One Feels.

War

Feels

When I Am Working On A Book Or A Story I Write Every Morning As Soon After First Light As Possible. There Is No One To Disturb You And It Is Cool Or Cold And You Come To Your Work And Warm As You Write. . . .when You Stop You Are As Empty, And At The Same Time Never Empty But Filling, As When You Have E Made Love To Someone You Love. Nothing Can Hurt You, Nothing Can Happen, Nothing Means Anything Until The Next Day When You Do It Again. It Is The Wait Until The Next Day That Is Hard To Get Through.

Hurt

Morning

Book

Please Tell Me What Can I Do. There Must Be Something I Can Do

Please

Can Do

I Can

Now Catherine Would Die. That Was What You Did. You Died. You Did Not Know What It Was About. You Never Had Time To Learn. They Threw You In And Told You The Rules And The First Time They Caught You Off Base They Killed You. Or They Killed You Gratuitously Like Aymo. Or Gave You The Syphilis Like Rinaldi. But They Killed You In The End. You Could Count On That. Stay Around And They Would Kill You.

Syphilis

Firsts

Farewell To Arms

I Was Trying To Write Then And I Found The Greatest Difficulty, Aside From Knowing What You Really Felt, Rather That What You Were Supposed To Feel, And Had Been Taught To Feel, Was To Put Down What Really Happened In Action; What The Actual Things Which Produced The Emotion That You Experienced.

Writing

Knowing

Trying

Worry Destroys The Ability To Write. Ill Health Is Bad In The Ratio That It Produces Worry Which Attacks Your Subconscious And Destroys Your Nerves.

Writing

Ill Health

Worry

The Smallest Coffins Are The Heaviest.

Coffins

Smallest

Decadence Is A Difficult Word To Use Since It Has Become Little More Than A Term Of Abuse Applied By Critics To Anything They Do Not Yet Understand Or Which Seems To Differ From Their Moral Concepts.

Abuse

Afternoon

Littles

He Did Not Care For The Lying At First. He Hated It. Then Later He Had Come To Like It. It Was Part Of Being An Insider But It Was A Very Corrupting Business.

Lying

Care

Firsts

Everyone Has His Own Conscience, And There Should Be No Rules About How A Conscience Should Function.

Wisdom

Should

Function

When You Start To Live Outside Yourself, It's All Dangerous.

Dangerous

This Was The Price You Paid For Sleeping Together. This Was The End Of The Trap. This Was What People Got For Loving Each Other.

Sleep

People

Together

A Wine Shop Was Open And I Went In For Some Coffee. It Smelled Of Early Morning, Of Swept Dust, Spoons In Coffee-glasses And The Wet Circles Left By Wine Glasses.

Morning

Coffee

Wine

Hail Nothing Full Of Nothing, Nothing Is With Thee.

Hail

Thee

You Make Something From Things That Have Happened And From Things That Exist And From All Things That You Know And All Those You Cannot Know, And You Make Something Through Your Invention That Is Truer Than Anything True And Alive, And If You Make It Well Enough, You Give It Immortality.

Giving

Alive

Immortality

But In The Meantime All The Life You Have Or Ever Will Have Is Today, Tonight, Tomorrow, Today, Tonight, Tomorrow, Over And Over Again (i Hope).

Tonight

Today

Tomorrow

There Is Nothing You Can Do Except Try To Write It The Way That It Was. So You Must Write Each Day Better Than You Possibly Can And Use The Sorrow That You Have Now To Make You Know How The Early Sorrow Came. And You Must Always Remember The Things You Believed Because If You Know Them They Will Be There In The Writing And You Won’t Betray Them. The Writing Is The Only Progress You Make.

Writing

Sorrow

Progress

You're Awfully Dark, Brother," He Said. "you Don't Know How Dark.

Brother

Dark

Said

I Loved You When I Saw You Today And I Loved You Always But I Never Saw You Before.

Today

Saws

I Loved You

The World Breaks Everyone, And Afterward, Some Are Strong At The Broken Places.

Inspirational

Life

Strength

Now Is No Time To Think Of What You Do Not Have. Think Of What You Can Do With That There Is

Inspirational

Motivational

Thankful

No Subject Is Terrible If The Story Is True, If The Prose Is Clean And Honest, And If It Affirms Courage And Grace Under Pressure.

Paris

Grace

Stories

It Was Considered A Virtue Not To Talk Unnecessarily At Sea.

Sea

Virtue

There Isn't Any Me. I'm You. Don't Make Up A Separate Me.

Farewell To Arms

However You Make Your Living Is Where Your Talent Lies.

Lying

Talent

Kilimanjaro

I Always Try To Write On The Principle Of The Iceberg. There Is Seven-eighths Of It Underwater For Every Part That Shows.

Writing

Trying

Principles

For A War To Be Just Three Conditions Are Necessary - Public Authority, Just Cause, Right Motive.

Peace

Military

War

Pound's Crazy. All Poets Are.... They Have To Be. You Don't Put A Poet Like Pound In The Loony Bin.

Crazy

Literature

Pounds

There Is No Rule On How To Write.

Writing

It Wasn't By Accident That The Gettysburg Address Was So Short.

Prose Writing

Addresses

Gettysburg

Remember Everything Is Right Until It's Wrong. You'll Know When It's Wrong.

Remembers Everything

Remember

Knows

The Clouds Were Building Up Now For The Trade Wind And He Looked Ahead And Saw A Flight Of Wild Ducks Etching Themselves Against The Sky Over The Water, Then Blurring, Then Etching Again And He Knew No Man Was Ever Alone On The Sea.

Men

Clouds

Wind

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.

Life And Death

Feel Good

Feelings

All Cowardice Comes From Not Truly Loving, Or At Least, Not Loving Well.

Cowardice

Wells

Never Confuse Motions With Action.

Dream

Action

Dream Job

Wine Is The Most Civilized Thing In The World.

Wine

Vineyards

World

Everything Is Your Fault If You're Any Damn Good.

Faults

Damn

Damn Good

Oh, Darling, You Will Be Good To Me, Won’t You? Because We’re Going To Have A Strange Life.

Strange

Darling

Be Good

A Severed Femoral Artery Empties Itself Faster Than You Can Believe.

Believe

Arteries

Faster

Rereading Places You At The Point Where It Has To Go On, Knowing It Is As Good As You Can Get It Up To There. There Is Always Juice Somewhere.

Knowing

Rereading

Juice

We're Stronger In The Places That We've Been Broken.

Life

Broken

Stronger

To Hell With Luck. I'll Bring The Luck With Me.

Life Lesson

Luck

Hell

The Only Thing That Can Ruin A Good Day Is People.

Good Day

People

Ruins

Being Against Evil Doesn't Make You Good. Tonight I Was Against It And Then I Was Evil Myself. I Could Feel It Coming Just Like A Tide... I Just Want To Destroy Them. But When You Start Taking Pleasure In It You Are Awfully Close To The Thing You're Fighting.

Fighting

Evil

Tonight

I May Not Be As Stong As I Think, But I Know Many Tricks And I Have Resolution.

Thinking

May

Resolution

It's All Nonsense. It's Only Nonsense. I'm Not Afraid Of The Rain. I Am Not Afraid Of The Rain. Oh, Oh, God, I Wish I Wasn't.

Fear

Rain

Farewell

Wine Is A Grand Thing," I Said. "it Makes You Forget All The Bad.

Wine

Farewell To Arms

Forget

Nobody That Ever Left Their Own Country Ever Wrote Anything Worth Printing. Not Even In The Newspapers.

Country

Writing

Printing

A Writer Is Like A Gypsy. He Owes No Allegiance To Any Government. If He Is A Good Writer He Will Never Like Any Government He Lives Under. His Hand Should Be Against It And Its Hand Will Always Be Against Him.

Hands

Government

Gypsy

To Make War All You Need Is Intelligence. But To Win You Need Talent And Material.

War

Winning

Needs

There Isnt Always An Explanation For Everything.

Explanation

I Am One Of Those Who Like To Stay Late At The Cafe," The Older Waiter Said. "with All Those Who Do Not Want To Go To Bed. With All Those Who Need A Light For The Night." "i Want To Go Home And Into Bed." "we Are Of Two Different Kinds," The Older Waiter Said. He Was Now Dressed To Go Home. "it Is Not Only A Question Of Youth And Confidence Although Those Things Are Very Beautiful. Each Night. I Am Reluctant To Close Up Because There May Be Someone Who Needs The Cafe.

Beautiful

Home

Night

Fear Of Death Increases In Exact Proportion To Increase In Wealth.

Inspirational

Motivational

Death

Why Should Anybody Be Interested In Some Old Man Who Was A Failure?

Inspiring

Men

Literature

There Are Many Good Fishermen And Some Great Ones. But There Is Only One You.

Life Lesson

Fisherman

Great Ones

I Am Opposed To Writing About The Private Lives Of Living Authors And Psychoanalyzing Them While They Are Alive. Criticism Is Getting All Mixed Up With A Combination Of The Junior Fbi-men, Discards From Freud And Jung And A Sort Of Columnist Peep-hole And Missing Laundry List School. ... Every Young English Professor Sees Gold In Them Dirty Sheets Now. Imagine What They Can Do With The Soiled Sheets Of Four Legal Beds By The Same Writer And You Can See Why Their Tongues Are Slavering.

Dirty

School

Writing

She Is Kind And Very Beautiful. But She Can Be So Cruel And It Comes So Suddenly And Such Birds That Fly, Dipping And Hunting, With Their Small Sad Voices Are Made Too Delicately For The Sea.

Beautiful

Hunting

Sea

Anglers Have A Way Of Romanticizing Their Battles With Fish And Of Forgetting That The Fish Has A Hook In His Mouth, His Gullet, Or His Belly And That His Gameness Is Really An Extreme Of Panic In Which He Runs, Leaps, And Pulls To Get Away Until He Dies. It Would Seem To Be Enough Advantage To The Angler That The Fish Has The Hook In His Mouth Rather Than The Angler.

Running

Battle

Mouths

If The Book Is Good, Is About Something That You Know, And Is Truly Written, And Reading It Over You See That This Is So, You Can Let The Boys Yip And The Noise Will Have That Pleasant Sound Coyotes Make On A Very Cold Night When They Are Out In The Snow And You Are In Your Own Cabin That You Have Built Or Paid For With Your Work.

Book

Reading

Boys

He's A Great Writer. If I Didn't Think So I Wouldn't Have Tried To Kill Him... I Was The Champ And When I Read His Stuff I Knew He Had Something. So I Dropped A Heavy Glass Skylight On His Head At A Drinking Party. But You Can't Kill The Guy. He's Not Human.

Crazy

Party

Drinking

Real Seriousness In Regard To Writing Being One Of The Two Absolute Necessities. The Other, Unfortunately, Is Talent.

Real

Writing

Two

We All Take A Beating Every Day, You Know, One Way Or Another.

Way

Knows

One Way

A Big Lie Is More Plausible Than Truth.

Lying

Bigs

Plausible

A Writer's Problem Does Not Change. He Himself Changes And The World He Lives In Changes But His Problem Remains The Same. It Is Always How To Write Truly And Having Found What Is True, To Project It Is Such A Way That It Becomes A Part Of The Experience Of The Person Who Reads It.

Writing

Doe

World

Courage Is Grace Under Pressure.

Inspirational

Positive

Courage

All Our Words From Loose Using Have Lost Their Edge.

Writing

Our Words

Afternoon

I Kissed Her Hard And Held Her Tight And Tried To Open Her Lips; They Were Closed Tight.

Kissing

Romantic Love

Lips

There Are Only Three Sports: Bullfighting, Motor Racing, And Mountaineering; All The Rest Are Merely Games.

Sports

Motor Racing

Games

You'll Lose It, If You Talk About It

Ifs

Loses

There Are Many Who Do Not Know They Are Fascists But Will Find It Out When The Time Comes.

Tolls

Fascists

Knows

The Only Kind Of Writing Is Rewriting.

Writing

Rewriting

Kind

As To Hemingway, I Read Him For The First Time In The Early 'forties, Something About Bells, Balls And Bulls, And Loathed It.

Balls

Bulls

Bells

Perhaps I Should Not Have Been A Fisherman, He Thought. But That Was The Thing That I Was Born For.

Lakes

Sea

Fishing

If People Bring So Much Courage To This World The World Has To Kill Them To Break Them, So Of Course It Kills Them. The World Breaks Every One And Afterward Many Are Strong At The Broken Places. But Those That Will Not Break It Kills. It Kills The Very Good And The Very Gentle And The Very Brave Impartially. If You Are None Of These You Can Be Sure It Will Kill You Too But There Will Be No Special Hurry.

Courage

Strong

People

God Knows I Didn't Mean To Fall In Love With Her

Falling In Love

Mean

God Knows

Writing Is A Hard Business...but Nothing Makes You Feel Better.

Writing

Feel Better

Feels

Clearly I Miss Him, Having Been Brought Up In Religion. But Now A Man Must Be Responsible To Himself.

Men

Missing

Responsible

And The Ones Who Would Not Make War? Can They Stop It?

War

That Terrible Mood Of Depression Of Whether It's Any Good Or Not Is What Is Known As The Artist's Reward.

Depression

Depressing

Artist

A Cat Has Absolute Honesty.

Honesty

Cat

Absolutes

All The Critics Who Could Not Make Their Reputations By Discovering You Are Hoping To Make Them By Predicting Hopefully Your Approaching Impotence, Failure And General Drying Up Of Natural Juices. Not A One Will Wish You Luck Or Hope That You Will Keep On Writing Unless You Have Political Affiliations In Which Case These Will Rally Around And Speak Of You And Homer, Balzac, Zola And Link Steffens.

Writing

Political

Luck

You Are Killing Me, Fish, The Old Man Thought. But You Have A Right To. Never Have I Seen A Greater, Or More Beautiful, Or A Calmer Or More Noble Thing Than You, Brother.

Beautiful

Brother

Men

Ezra Was Right Half The Time, And When He Was Wrong, He Was So Wrong You Were Never In Any Doubt About It.

Time

Doubt

Half

She Was Looking Into My Eyes With That Way She Had Of Looking That Made You Wonder Whether She Really Saw Out Of Her Own Eyes. They Would Look On And On After Every One Else's Eyes In The World Would Have Stopped Looking. She Looked As Though There Were Nothing On Earth She Would Not Look At Like That, And Really She Was Afraid Of So Many Things.

Life Breaks All Of Us But Some Of Us Get Stronger In The Broken Places.

Broken

Stronger

Break

The Road To Hell Is Paved With Unbought Stuffed Dogs.

Dog

Writing

Sisterhood

Where Do The Noses Go? I Always Wondered Where The Noses Would Go.

Kissing

Noses

Writing, At Its Best, Is A Lonely Life.

Lonely

Writing

Lonely Life

All Stories, If Continued Far Enough, End In Death.

Death

Suicide

Stories

The Bulls Are My Best Friends." I Translated To Brett. "you Kill Your Friends?" She Asked. "always," He Said In English, And Laughed. "so They Don't Kill Me.

My Best Friend

Bulls

Said

I Don't Want To Be Your Friend, Baby. I Am Your Friend.

Baby

Want

But Don't Try To Find An Untroublesome Woman. She Will Dull Out On You. What Makes A Woman Good In Bed Makes It Impossible For Her To Live Alone.

Trying

Bed

Dull

All Good Books Have One Thing In Common - They Are Truer Than If They Had Really Happened.

Book

Farewell To Arms

Common

No Animal Has More Liberty Than The Cat, But It Buries The Mess It Makes. The Cat Is The Best Anarchist.

Cat

Animal

Liberty

The Cat Has Complete Emotional Honesty - An Attribute Not Often Found In Humans.

Honesty

Cat

Emotional

Why Do Old Men Wake So Early? Is It To Have One Longer Day?

Men

Old Man

Longer Days

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.

Doctors

Practice Of Medicine

Farewell To Arms

An Intelligent Man Is Sometimes Forced To Be Drunk To Spend Time With His Fools.

Book

Drinking

Beer

I Would Write One True Sentence, And Then Go On From There.

Writing

Goes On

Moveable Feast

My Big Fish Must Be Somewhere.

Big Fish

Bigs

Old Man

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).

Time

Writing

Thinking

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.

Sick

Faithful

Faults

Write Drunk; Edit Sober.

Witty

Clever

Humorous

My Only Regret In Life Is That I Did Not Drink More Wine.

Regret

Food

Wine

But After I Got Them To Leave And Shut The Door And Turned Off The Light It Wasn't Any Good. It Was Like Saying Good-by To A Statue. After A While I Went Out And Left The Hospital And Walked Back To The Hotel In The Rain.

Rain

Light

Doors

I Think You Should Learn About Writing From Everybody Who Has Ever Written That Has Anything To Teach You

Writing

Thinking

Should

Let Him Think Is I Am More Man Than I Am And I Will Be So.

Men

Thinking

We're Always Lucky,' I Said And Like A Fool I Did Not Knock On Wood.

Lucky

Woods

Fool

Got Tight On Absinthe Last Night. Did Knife Tricks.

I Read My Own Books Sometimes To Cheer Me When It Is Hard To Write, And Then I Remember That It Was Always Difficult, And How Nearly Impossible It Was Sometimes.

Cheer

Book

Writing

Night Life Is When Everybody Says What The Hell And You Do Not Remember Who Paid The Bill.

Night

Bills

Remember

I Don't Think I Ever Owned Twenty Pencils At One Time. Wearing Down Seven Number-two Pencils Is A Good Day's Work.

Good Day

Thinking

Two

For A Long Time Now I Have Tried Simply To Write The Best I Can. Sometimes I Have Good Luck And Write Better Than I Can.

Writing

Good Luck

Long

That Is What We Are Supposed To Do When We Are At Our Best - Make It All Up - But Make It Up So Truly That Later It Will Happen That Way.

Way

Invention

Inventor

I Know War As Few Other Men Now Living Know It, And Nothing To Me Is More Revolting. I Have Long Advocated Its Complete Abolition, As Its Very Destructiveness On Both Friend And Foe Has Rendered It Useless As A Method Of Settling International Disputes.

Military

War

Men

For A True Writer Each Book Should Be A New Beginning Where He Tries Again For Something That Is Beyond Attainment. He Should Always Try For Something That Has Never Been Done Or That Others Have Tried And Failed. Then Sometimes, With Great Luck, He Will Succeed.

Book

Writing

New Beginnings

I Say That Is Wine," Brett Held Up Her Glass. "we Ought To Toast Something. 'here's To Royalty.'" "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." Brett's Glass Was Empty.

Drinking

Wine

Glasses

French Is The Language Of Diplomacy. Spanish Is The Language Of Bureaucracy.

Language

Bureaucracy

Diplomacy

It's A Town You Come To For A Short Time.

New York

Towns

Short Time

I Mistrust All Frank And Simple People, Especially When Their Stories Hold Together

Simple

People

Together

To Be Able To Say: I Loved This Person, We Had A Hell Of A Nice Time Together, It's Over But In A Way It Will Never Be Over And I Do Know That I For Sure Loved This Person, To Be Able To Say That And Mean It, That's Rare. That's Rare And Valuable.

Nice

Mean

Together

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.

Thinking

People

Style

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.

Life

Death

Rip

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

Spain

Get Up

When I Saw My Wife Again Standing By The Tracks As The Train Came In By The Piled Logs At The Station, I Wished I Had Died Before I Had Ever Loved Anyone But Her.

Track

Wife

Saws

I Wish I Had Died Before I Ever Loved Anyone But Her.

Wish

Died

For We Have Thought The Longer Thoughts And Gone The Shorter Way. And We Have Danced To Devils' Tunes, Shivering Home To Pray; To Serve One Master In The Night, Another In The Day.

Home

Night

Devil

As In No Other Form Of Lute Or Combat, The Conditions Are Such; The Winner Takes Nothing, Neither His Ease, Nor His Pleasure, Nor Any Notion Of Glory, Nor If He Wins Far Enough, Will He Find Anything Within Himself.

Wisdom

Winning

Ease

I Try Not To Borrow, First You Borrow Then You Beg.

Trying

Firsts

Finance

When Things Are Going Well, I Like To Have People To Share It With. I've Been Alone In Troubled Times, And I Don't Mind That. Some Things Have To Be Endured Alone. As Hemingway Said, The Human Being Is Strong In All The Broken Places.

Strong

Broken

As You Get Older It Is Harder To Have Heroes, But It Is Sort Of Necessary.

Time

Hero

Age

He Did Not Say That Because He Knew That If You Said A Good Thing It Might Not Happen.

Might

Good Things

Said

Listen Now. When People Talk Listen Completely. Don't Be Thinking What You're Going To Say. Most People Never Listen. Nor Do They Observe.

Thinking

People

Happiness Is Often Presented As Being Very Dull But, He Thought, Lying Awake, That Is Because Dull People Are Sometimes Very Happy And Intelligent People Can And Do Go Around Making Themselves And Everyone Else Miserable. He Had Never Found Happiness Dull. It Always Seemed More Exciting Than Any Other Thing And Capable Of As Great Intensity As Sorrow To Those People Who Were Capable Of Having It.

Lying

Intelligent

Found Happiness

The Fun Of Talk Is To Explore, But Much Of It And All That Is Irresponsible Should Not Be Written. Once Written You Have To Stand By It. You May Have Said It To See Whether You Believed It Or Not.

Fun

May

Should

Because We Would Not Wear Any Clothes Because It Was So Hot And The Windows Open And The Swallows Flying Over The Roofs Of The Houses And When It Was Dark Afterward And You Went To The Window Very Small Bats Hunting Over The Houses And Close Down Over The Trees And We Would Drink Capri And The Door Locked And It Hot And Only A Sheet And The Whole Night And We Would Both Love Each Other All Night In The Hot Night In Milan. That Was How It Ought To Be.

Dark

Night

Hunting

Now He Would Never Write The Things That He Had Saved To Write Until He Knew Enough To Write Them Well. Well, He Would Not Have To Fail At Trying To Write Them Either. Maybe You Could Never Write Them, And That Was Why You Put Them Off And Delayed The Starting. Well He Would Never Know, Now.

Writing

Procrastination

Trying

All Good Books Are Alike In That They Are Truer Than If They Really Happened And After You Are Finished Reading One You Feel That It All Happened To You And After Which It All Belongs To You.

Book

Reading

Writing

No; That Doesn't Interest Me.' 'that's Because You Never Read A Book About It.

Book

Interest

My,' She Said. 'we're Lucky That You Found The Place.' We're Always Lucky,' I Said And Like A Fool I Did Not Knock On Wood. There Was Wood Everywhere In That Apartment To Knock On Too.

Lucky

Woods

Fool

I'm With You. No Matter What Else You Have In Your Head I'm With You And I Love You.

Love You

Matter

No Matter What

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.

Inspirational

Life

Couple

Since I Had Started To Break Down All My Writing And Get Rid Of All Facility And Try To Make Instead Of Describe, Writing Had Been Wonderful To Do.

Writing

Trying

Wonderful

But In The Night He Woke And Held Her Tight As Though She Were All Of Life And It Was Being Taken From Him. He Held Her Feeling She Was All Of Life There Was And It Was True.

Taken

I Hate You

Night

We Have Come Out Of The Time When Obedience, The Acceptance Of Discipline, Intelligent Courage And Resolution Were Most Important, Into That More Difficult Time When It Is A Man's Duty To Understand His World Rather Than Simply Fight For It.

Courage

Time

Fighting

It's Silly Not To Hope. It's A Sin He Thought.

Silly

Sin

Poor Faulkner. Does He Really Think Big Emotions Come From Big Words?

Music

Sarcastic

Clever

There Are Events Which Are So Great That If A Writer Has Participated In Them His Obligation Is To Write Truly Rather Than Assume The Presumption Of Altering Them With Invention.

Writing

Events

Assuming

Eschew The Monumental. Shun The Epic. All The Guys Who Can Paint Great Big Pictures Can Paint Great Small Ones.

Pain

Writing

Epic

Do You Know How An Ugly Woman Feels? Do You Know What It Is To Be Ugly All Your Life And Inside To Feel That You Are Beautiful? It Is Very Rare.

Beautiful

Ugly

Feels

But Paris Was A Very Old City And We Were Young And Nothing Was Simple There.

Simple

Cities

Paris

I Am Drunk, Seest Thou? When I Am Not Drunk I Do Not Talk. You Have Never Heard Me Talk Much. But An Intelligent Man Is Sometimes Forced To Be Drunk To Spend His Time With Fools.

Intelligent

Men

Drunk

He Was Violating The Second Rule Of The Two Rules For Getting On Well With People That Speak Spanish; Give The Men Tobacco And Leave The Women Alone

Men

Two

People

Let Those Who Want To Save The World If You Can Get To See It Clear And As A Whole. Then Any Part You Make Will Represent The Whole If It's Made Truly. The Thing To Do Is Work And Learn To Make It.

World

Want

Made

The Whiskey Warmed His Tongue And The Back Of His Throat, But It Did Not Change His Ideas Any, And Suddenly, Looking At Himself In The Mirror Behind The Bar, He Knew That Drinking Was Never Going To Do Any Good To Him Now. Whatever He Had Now He Had, And It Was From Now On, And If He Drank Himself Unconscious When He Woke Up It Would Be There.

Drinking

Mirrors

Ideas

Once Writing Has Become Your Major Vice And Greatest Pleasure Only Death Can Stop It.

Writing

Vices

Pleasure

Any Man's Life, Told Truly, Is A Novel.

Men

Novel

Thou Wilt Go Now, Rabbit. But I Go With Thee. As Long As There Is One Of Us There Is Both Of Us.

Long

Rabbits

Thee

I Love You And I Always Will And I Am Sorry. What A Useless Word.

Sorry

Love You

Useless

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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