My Attitude Toward Punctuation Is That It Ought To Be As Conventional As Possible. The Game Of Golf Would Lose A Good Deal If Croquet Mallets And Billiard Cues Were Allowed On The Putting Green. You Ought To Be Able To Show That You Can Do It A Good Deal Better Than Anyone Else With The Regular Tools Before You Have A License To Bring In Your Own Improvements.

-Ernest Hemingway

Please Wait....
Translating....

My Attitude Toward Punctuation

Ernest Hemingway

Topic

Attitude

Golf

Games

More From Ernest Hemingway

I've Been Wondering About Dostoyevsky. How Can A Man Write So Badly, So Unbelievably Badly, And Make You Feel So Deeply?

Writing

Men

Wonder

But Did Thee Feel The Earth Move?

Moving

Tolls

Earth

The First And Final Thing You Have To Do In This World Is To Last It And Not Be Smashed By It.

Inspiring

Finals

World

I Would Not Have Thought Of Eating A Meal Without Drinking A Beer.

Drinking

Beer

Meals

Dying Was Nothing And He Had No Picture Of It Nor Fear Of It In His Mind. But Living Was A Field Of Grain Blowing In The Wind On The Side Of A Hill. Living Was A Hawk In The Sky. Living Was An Earthen Jar Of Water In The Dust Of The Threshing With The Grain Flailed Out And The Chaff Blowing. Living Was A Horse Between Your Legs And A Carbine Under One Leg And A Hill And A Valley And A Stream With Trees Along It And The Far Side Of The Valley And The Hills Beyond.

Inspiring

Horse

Dust

In Going Where You Have To Go, And Doing What You Have To Do, And Seeing What You Have To See, You'll Dull And Blunt The Instrument You Write With. But I Would Rather Have It Bent And Dull And Know I Had To Put It To The Grindstone Again And Hammer It Into Shape And Put A Whetstone To It, And Know That I Had Something To Write About, Than To Have It Bright And Shining And Nothing To Say, Or Smooth And Well-oiled In The Closet, But Unused.

Writing

Shining

Hammers

Only That Which Makes You Feel Bad After Doing Is Immoral.

Evil

Feels

Immoral

We Are All Apprentices In A Craft Where No One Ever Becomes A Master.

Writing

Humility

Crafts

I Belong To This Notebook And This Pencil.

Notebook

Moveable Feast

Pencils

Prose Is Architecture, Not Interior Decoration, And The Baroque Is Over.

Literature

Architecture

Baroque Music

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

In Those Days, There Was No Money To Buy Books.

Book

No Money

Why Must All Of The Operations In Life Be Performed Without An Anesthetic?

Life Is

Operations

Anesthetics

I Do Not Think I Had Ever Seen A Nastier-looking Man. Under The Black Hat, When I Had First Seen Them, The Eyes Had Been Those Of An Unsuccessful Rapist.

Eye

Men

Thinking

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

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.

War

Worry

Maps

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

All A Man Has Is Pride. Sometimes You Have It So Much It Is A Sin. We Have All Done Things For Pride That We Knew Were Impossible. We Didn't Care. But A Man Must Implement His Pride With Intelligence And Care.

Pride

Men

Done

Work Could Cure Almost Anything

Cures

Critics Are Men Who Watch A Battle From A High Place Then Come Down And Shoot The Survivors.

Men

Mma

Battle

You Can Write Anytime People Will Leave You Alone And Not Interrupt You.

Writing

People

Go All The Way With It. Do Not Back Off. For Once, Go All The Goddamn Way With What Matters.

What Matters

Matter

Way

It Was Like Certain Dinners I Remember From The War. There Was Much Wine, An Ignored Tension, And A Feeling Of Things Coming That You Could Not Prevent Happening. Under The Wine I Lost The Disgusted Feeling And Was Happy. It Seemed They Were All Such Nice People.

War

Nice

Wine

We Think. We Are Not Peasants. We Are Mechanics. But Even The Peasants Know Better Than To Believe In A War. Everybody Hates War. There Is A Class That Control A Country That Is Stupid And Down Not Realise Anything And Never Can. That Is Why We Have This War. Also They Make Money Out Of It.

Country

Hate

War

Everything Is On Such A Clear Financial Basis In France. It Is The Simplest Country To Live In. No One Makes Things Complicated By Becoming Your Friend For Any Obscure Reason. If You Want People To Like You You Have Only To Spend A Little Money. I Spent A Little Money And The Waiter Liked Me. He Appreciated My Valuable Qualities. He Would Be Glad To See Me, And Would Want Me At His Table. It Would Be A Sincere Liking Because It Would Have A Sound Basis. I Was Back In France.

Country

People

Quality

It Is Very Bad For (an Artist) To Talk About How He (creates). It Is Not The (artist's) Province To Explain Or To Run Guided Tours Through The More Difficult Country Of His Work. It's None Of Their Business That You Had To Learn. Let Them Think You Were Born That Way.

Running

Country

Artist

He Liked The Works Of His Friends, Which Is Beautiful As Loyalty But Can Be Disastrous As Judgement.

Beautiful

Loyalty

Judgement

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

Falling In Love

Mean

God Knows

When I Had Finished The Book I Knew That No Matter What Scott Did, Nor How He Behaved, I Must Know It Was Like A Sickness And Be Of Any Help I Could To Him And Try To Be A Good Friend. He Had Many Good, Good Friends, More Than Anyone I Knew. But I Enlisted As One More, Whether I Could Be Of Any Use To Him Or Not. If He Could Write A Book As Fine As The Great Gatsby I Was Sure That He Could Write An Even Better One. I Did Not Know Zelda Yet, And So I Did Not Know The Terrible Odds That Were Against Him. But We Were To Find Them Out Soon Enough.

Book

Writing

Good Friend

God Knows, People Who Are Paid To Have Attitudes Toward Things, Professional Critics, Make Me Sick; Camp-following Eunuchs Of Literature.

Attitude

Sick

People

The People That I Liked And Had Not Met Went To The Big Cafes Because They Were Lost In Them And No One Noticed Them And They Could Be Alone In Them And Be Together.

People

Together

Cafes

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

Sports

Motor Racing

Games

You Cannot Stop Trusting People In Life But I Have Learned To Be A Little Bit Careful. The Way To Make People Trust-worthy Is To Trust Them.

Trust

People

Littles

Poor Faulkner. Does He Really Think Big Emotions Come From Big Words? He Thinks I Don’t Know The Ten-dollar Words. I Know Them All Right. But There Are Older And Simpler And Better Words, And Those Are The Ones I Use.

Writing

Thinking

Doe

All You Have To Do Is Write One True Sentence. Write The Truest Sentence That You Know.

Truth

Freedom

Writing

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

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

Country

Writing

Printing

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

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

Writing

Goes On

Moveable Feast

You Write A Book Like That You're Fond Of Over The Years, Then You See That Happen To It, It's Like Pissing In Your Father's Beer.

Father

Book

Writing

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

Language

Bureaucracy

Diplomacy

This Was A Big Storm And He Might As Well Enjoy It. It Was Ruining Everything, But You Might As Well Enjoy It

Storm

Tolls

Might

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.

Work

Writing

Done

And Who Understands? Not Me, Because If I Did I Would Forgive It All.

Forgiving

Ifs

The Only Decent Bone In Her Body Was Mine.

Body

Bones

Decent

Man Is Not Made For Defeat.

Inspiring

Perseverance

Self Esteem

If A Writer Knows Enough About What He Is Writing About, He May Omit Things That He Knows. The Dignity Of Movement Of An Iceberg Is Due To Only One Ninth Of It Being Above Water.

Writing

Water

Movement

Live It Up So You Can Write It Down.

Writing

Live It Up

When We Came Back To Paris It Was Clear And Cold And Lovely.

Paris

Lovely

Cold

Don't Do What You Sincerely Don't Want To Do. Never Confuse Movement With Action.

Movement

Want

Action

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

I Hate A Cramp, He Thought. It Is A Treachery Of One's Own Body.

Hate

Body

Cramps

Some People, When They Hear An Echo, Think They Originated The Sound.

Thinking

Echoes

People

All Things Truly Wicked Start From Innocence.

Inspiring

Wicked

Literature

A Writer Should Be Of As Great Probity And Honesty As A Priest Of God. He Is Either Honest Or Not, As A Woman Is Either Chaste Or Not, And After One Piece Of Dishonest Writing He Is Never The Same Again.

Honesty

Writing

Editing

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

Baby

Want

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

My Writing Is Nothing, My Boxing Is Everything.

Writing

Boxing

I Felt The Death Loneliness That Comes At The End Of Every Day That Is Wasted In Your Life.

Loneliness

Moveable Feast

Ends

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

Good Day

People

Ruins

You Don't Have To Destroy Me. Do You? I'm Only A Woman Who Loves You And Wants To Do What You Want To Do. I've Been Destroyed Two Or Three Times Already. You Wouldn't Want To Destroy Me Again, Would You?

Love You

Two

Three

Worry Destroys The Ability To Write.

Writing

Worry

Ability

Don't Get Discouraged Because There's A Lot Of Mechanical Work To Writing. I Rewrote The First Part Of Farewell To Arms At Least Fifty Times.

Farewell

Writing

Arms

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.

Veterans Day

Memorial Day

Military

The World Breaks Everyone Or Nearly Everyone, Of Their Childish Illusions, Assumptions And Wishes, Often Painfully And Afterwards Due To The Personal Growth In Practical Experience, Insight And The Resulting Wisdom Many Are Strong At The Broken Places Just Like Mended Broken Bones Often Are, And Some People Even Have The Great Insight To Be Grateful For The Purifying Fire.

Gratitude

Strong

Grateful

My Working Habits Are Simple: Long Periods Of Thinking, Short Periods Of Writing.

Writing

Simple

Thinking

Practice Any Faith You Wish. Got A Ball Field Up The Island Where You Can Practice. I'll Give The Deity A Fast One High And Inside If He Crowds The Plate.

Islands

Practice

Giving

Until You're Grown-up They Send You To Reform School. After You're Grown-up They Send You To The Penitentiary.

Growing Up

School

Reform

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

It Wasn't By Accident That The Gettysburg Address Was So Short. The Laws Of Prose Writing Are As Immutable As Those Of Flight, Of Mathematics, Of Physics.

Writing

Law

Addresses

The Road To Hell Is Paved With Unbought Stuffed Dogs.

Dog

Writing

Sisterhood

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

I Always Worked Until I Had Something Done And I Always Stopped When I Knew What Was Going To Happen Next. That Way I Could Be Sure Of Going On The Next Day.

Next Day

Done

Way

When You Have Shot One Bird Flying You Have Shot All Birds Flying. They Are All Different And They Fly In Different Ways But The Sensation Is The Same And The Last One Is As Good As The First.

Hunting

Bird

Flying

All I Know Is That Young Boys Sleep Late And Hard.

Sleep

Boys

Young

Life Is Pain, So Live It Up While You Can.

Life

Pain

Live It Up

There Are Some Things Which Cannot Be Learned Quickly, And Time, Which Is All We Have, Must Be Paid Heavily For Their Acquiring.

Acquiring Things

Afternoon

Paid

There Were Many Words That You Could Not Stand To Hear And Finally Only The Names Of Places Had Dignity. Certain Numbers Were The Same Way And Certain Dates And These With The Names Of The Places Were All You Could Say And Have Them Mean Anything. Abstract Words Such As Glory, Honor, Courage, Or Hallow Were Obscene Beside The Concrete Names Of Villages, The Numbers Of Roads, The Names Of Rivers, The Numbers Of Regiments And The Dates.

Mean

Names

Rivers

Luck Is A Thing That Comes In Many Forms And Who Can Recognize Her?

Luck

Form

I Don't Like To Leave Anything,' The Man Said. 'i Don't Like To Leave Things Behind.

Men

Said

Behinds

He Would Lie In The Bed And Finally, With Daylight, He Would Go To Sleep. After All, He Said To Himself, It Is Probably Only Insomnia. Many Must Have It.

Lying

Sleep

Insomnia

Never Think That War, No Matter How Necessary, Nor How Justified, Is Not A Crime.

Inspirational

Military

War

You Are All A Lost Generation. [with Credit To Gertrude Stein]

Gertrude

Generations

Credit

You Won't Do Our Things With Another Girl, Or Say The Same Things, Will You?

Girl

Farewell To Arms

Another Girl

Organizations For Writers Palliate The Writer's Loneliness, But I Doubt If They Improve His Writing.... For He Does His Work Alone And If He Is A Good Enough Writer He Must Face Eternity, Or The Lack Of It, Each Day.

Loneliness

Writing

Organization

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.

Running

Beach

Morning

And Bed, He Thought. Bed Is My Friend. Just Bed, He Thought. Bed Will Be A Great Thing. It Is Easy When You Are Beaten, He Thought. I Never Knew How Easy It Was. And What Beat You, The Thought.

Bed

Easy

Beats

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

Book

Farewell To Arms

Common

Wars Are Caused By Undefended Wealth.

Peace

Military

War

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

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

Never Mistake Movement For Action

Mistake

Movement

Action

It Could Be Worse,' Passini Said Respectfully. "there Is Nothing Worse Than War." Defeat Is Worse." I Do Not Believe It," Passini Said Still Respectfully. "what Is Defeat? You Go Home.

War

Believe

Home

Hail Nothing Full Of Nothing, Nothing Is With Thee.

Hail

Thee

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

Prose Writing

Addresses

Gettysburg

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

Crazy

Innocent

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

Never Write About A Place Until You're Away From It, Because That Gives You Perspective

Writing

Giving

Perspective

I Love You For All That You Are, All That You Have Been, All That You're Yet To Be.

Romantic

Love You

Cute Boyfriend

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

War

Winning

Needs

Use Short Sentences. Use Short First Paragraphs. Use Vigorous English. Be Positive, Not Negative.

Being Positive

Negative

Use

I Had An Inheritance From My Father, It Was The Moon And The Sun. And Though I Roam All Over The World, The Spending Of It’s Never Done.

Nature

Father

Moon

What Difference Does It Make If You Live In A Picturesque Little Outhouse Surrounded By 300 Feeble Minded Goats And Your Faithful Dog? The Question Is: Can You Write?

Dog

Writing

Differences

There Can Be No Great Literature In America Until Her Writers Have Learned To Trust Her Implicitly And Love Her Devoutly.

America

And Love

Literature

That Every Day Should Be A Fiesta Seemed To Me A Wonderful Discovery.

Discovery

Fiesta

Should

Madame, It Is An Old Word And Each One Takes It New And Wears It Out Himself. It Is A Word That Fills With Meaning As A Bladder With Air And The Meaning Goes Out Of It As Quickly. It May Be Punctured As A Bladder Is Punctured And Patched And Blown Up Again And If You Have Not Had It Does Not Exist For You. All People Talk Of It, But Those Who Have Had It Are Marked By It, And I Would Not Wish To Speak Of It Further Since Of All Things It Is The Most Ridiculous To Talk Of And Only Fools Go Through It Many Times.

Love

Air

People

People Fall In Love, But Have To Climb Out.

Falling In Love

Fall

People

I Do Not Need To Get Used To Your Silence. I Already Know It. I Quite Possibly Love All Of It.

Silence

Needs

Used

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.

Spring

People

Limits

And How Much Better To Die In All The Happy Period Of Undisillusioned Youth, To Go Out In A Blaze Of Light, Than To Have Your Body Worn Out And Old And Illusions Shattered.

Light

Age

Body

When Writing A Novel A Writer Should Create Living People; People Not Characters. A Character Is A Caricature.

Powerful

Writing

Character

I Don't Feel Any Way,' The Girl Said. 'i Just Know Things.

Girl

Way

Said

The Hardest Thing To Do Is To Write Straight Honest Prose On Human Beings. First You Have To Know The Subject; Then You Have To Know How To Write. Both Take A Lifetime To Learn, And Anybody Is Cheating Who Takes Politics As A Way Out. All The Outs Are Too Easy, And The Thing Itself Is Too Hard To Do.

Life

Cheating

Writing

There Is Nothing Noble In Being Superior To Your Fellow Men. True Nobility Lies In Being Superior To Your Former Self.

Lying

Men

Self

There Is No Friend As Loyal As A Book.

Friendship

Powerful

Book

Write Drunk; Edit Sober.

Witty

Clever

Humorous

You Did Not Kill The Fish Only To Keep Alive And To Sell For Food, He Thought. You Killed Him For Pride And Because You Are A Fisherman. You Loved Him When He Was Alive And You Loved Him After. If You Love Him, It Is Not A Sin To Kill Him. Or Is It More?

Pride

Sea

Alive

I'm Not Advocating The Strenuous Life For Everyone Or Trying To Say It's The Choice Form Of Life. Anyone Who's Had The Luck Or Misfortune To Be An Athlete Has To Keep His Body In Shape. The Body And Mind Are Closely Coordinated. Fattening Of The Body Can Lead To Fattening Of The Mind. I Would Be Tempted To Say That It Can Lead To Fattening Of The Soul, But I Don't Know Anything About The Soul.

Athlete

Choices

Soul

It Is Silly Not To Hope, Besides I Believe It Is A Sin." The Old Man And The Sea

Believe

Silly

Men

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

Writing

Hard Times

Time Keeping

No Tears In The Writer, No Tears In The Reader.

Reading

Book

Writing

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’s Not Talk About How I Am. It’s A Subject I Know Too Much About To Want To Think About Anymore.

Thinking

Want

Too Much

What A Writer Has To Do Is Write What Hasn't Been Written Before Or Beat Dead Men At What They Have Done.

Writing

Men

Done

The Bicycle Riders Drank Much Wine, And Were Burned And Browned By The Sun. They Did Not Take The Race Seriously Except Among Themselves.

Wine

Cycling

Race

I’m Not Brave Any More Darling. I’m All Broken. They’ve Broken Me.

Broken

Brave

Farewell To Arms

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.

Character

Kids

Thinking

Part Of You Died Each Year When The Leaves Fell From The Trees And Their Branches Were Bare Against The Wind And The Cold, Wintry Light.

Light

Years

Wind

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

Might

Good Things

Said

There Is Seven-eights Of It Under Water For Every Part That Shows. Anything You Know You Can Eliminate And It Only Strengthens Your Iceberg. It Is The Part That Doesn't Show. If A Writer Omits Something Because He Does Not Know It Then There Is A Hole In The Story.

Water

Doe

Stories

You'll Lose It, If You Talk About It

Ifs

Loses

Writing, At Its Best, Is A Lonely Life.

Lonely

Writing

Lonely Life

We Need More True Mystery In Our Lives Hem- He Said. The Completely Unambitious Writer And The Really Good Unpublished Poem Are The Things We Lack Most. There Is Of Course The Problem Of Sustenance

Needs

Hem

Mystery

Remember To Get The Weather In Your Damn Book-weather Is Very Important.

Book

Writing

Weather

I Have A Rotten Habit Of Picturing The Bedroom Scenes Of My Friends.

Rotten

Bedroom

Habit

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

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

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

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

Music

Sarcastic

Clever

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

Trying

Firsts

Finance

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

Brother

Dark

Said

He Was Just A Coward And That Was The Worst Luck Any Many Could Have.

Luck

Coward

Tolls

My Heart's Broken,' He Thought. 'if I Feel This Way My Heart Must Be Broken.

Heart

Broken

Way

What Is The Definition Of Guts? Grace Under Pressure.

Grace

Definitions

Pressure

Often A Man Wishes To Be Alone And A Girl Wishes To Be Alone Too And If They Love Each Other They Are Jealous Of That In Each Other, But I Can Truly Say We Never Felt That. We Could Feel Alone When We Were Together, Alone Against The Others. But We Were Never Lonely And Never Afraid When We Were Together.

Girl

Lonely

Jealous

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 Only Way To Combat The Murder That Is War Is To Show The Dirty Combinations That Make It And The Criminals And Swine That Hope For It And The Idiotic Way They Run It When They Get It So That An Honest Man Will Distrust It As He Would Distrust A Racket And Refuse To Be Enslaved Into It.

Running

War

Dirty

Wonder What Day God Created The Egg' 'how Should We Know? We Should Not Question. Our Stay On Earth Is Not For Long. Let Us Rejoice And Believe And Give Thanks'. 'eat A Egg

Believe

Eggs

Long

Some Writers Are Only Born To Help Another Writer Write One Sentence.

Writing

Helping

Born

When You Have A Child, The World Has A Hostage.

Children

World

Hostage

Never Confuse Motions With Action.

Dream

Action

Dream Job

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

How Would That Premise Stand Up If He Examined It? That Was Probably Why The Communists Were Always Cracking Down On Bohemiansism. When You Were Drunk Or When You Committed Adultery You Recognised Your Own Personal Fallability Of That So Mutable Substitute For The Apostles' Creed, The Party Line. Down With Bohemianism, The Sin Of Majakowski.

Party

Drunk

Lines

No One Ever Stopped When They Were Winning.

Winning

I Was Always Embarresed By The Words 'sacred,' 'glorious,' And 'sacrifice' And The Expression 'in Vain.' We Had Heard Them, Sometimes Standing In The Rain Almost Out Of Earshot, So That Only The Shouted Words Came Through, And Had Read Them On Proclamations That Were Slapped Up By Billposters Over Other Proclamations, Now For A Long Time, And I Had Seen Nothing Sacred, And The Things That Were Glorious Had No Glory And The Sacrifices Were Like The Stock Yards At Chicago If Nothing Was Done With The Meat Except To Bury It.

Business

Rain

Sacrifice

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

You Could Omit Anything If You Knew That The Omitted Part Would Strengthen The Short Story And Make People Feel Something More Than They Understood

People

Stories

Short Story

To Invent Out Of Knowledge Means To Produce Inventions That Are True. Every Man Should Have A Built-in Automatic Crap Detector Operating Inside Him. It Also Should Have A Manual Drill And A Crank Handle In Case The Machine Breaks Down. If You're Going To Write, You Have To Find Out What's Bad For You. Part Of That You Learn Fast, And Then You Learn What's Good For You.

Writing

Mean

Men

Never Confuse Movement With Action.

Inspirational

Funny

Work

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

Life Lesson

Luck

Hell

You Can't Get Away From Yourself By Moving From One Place To Another.

Moving

Get Away

Lost Generation

Religion Is Like An Ice Cold Whiskey On A Hot Day.

Atheist

Ice

Hot

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

There Is No Lonelier Man In Death, Except The Suicide, Than That Man Who Has Lived Many Years With A Good Wife And Then Outlived Her. If Two People Love Each Other There Can Be No Happy End To It.

Love

Life

Relationship

Switzerland Is A Small, Steep Country, Much More Up And Down Than Sideways, And Is All Stuck Over With Large Brown Hotels Built On The Cuckoo Clock Style Of Architecture.

Country

Style

Cuckoo Clocks

Everything You Have Is To Give. Thou Art A Phenomenon Of Philosophy And An Unfortunate Man.

Art

Philosophy

Men

If A Writer Stops Observing He Is Finished. But He Does Not Have To Observe Consciously Nor Think How It Will Be Useful. Perhaps That Would Be True At The Beginning. But Later Everything He Sees Goes Into The Great Reserve Of Things He Knows Or Has Seen.

Thinking

Doe

Would Be

If You Have A Success, You Have It For The Wrong Reasons. If You Become Popular It Is Always Because Of The Worst Aspects Of Your Work.

Success

Popular Song

Reason

So This Was How You Died, In Whispers That You Did Not Hear.

Died

I Always Rewrite Each Day Up To The Point Where I Stopped. When It Is All Finished, Naturally You Go Over It. You Get Another Chance To Correct And Rewrite When Someone Else Types It, And You See It Clean In Type. The Last Chance Is In The Proofs. You're Grateful For These Different Chances.

Grateful

Different

Another Chance

Don't You Ever Get The Feeling That All Your Life Is Going By And You're Not Taking Advantage Of It? Do You Realize You've Lived Nearly Half The Time You Have To Live Already?

Live Life To The Fullest

Feelings

Half

The Fools Think I Am Writing Algebra But What I Am Really Writing Is Geometry.

Writing

Thinking

Fool

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

We Thought Of Wine As Something As Healthy And Normal As Food And Also As A Great Giver Of Happiness And Well Being And Delight.

Food

Wine

Cooking

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

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.

The Way To Learn Whether A Person Is Trustworthy Is To Trust Him.

Way

Trustworthy

Persons

Here Is The Piece. If You Can't Say Fornicate Can You Say Copulate Or If Not That Can You Say Co-habit? If Not That Would Have To Say Consummate I Suppose. Use Your Own Good Taste And Judgment.

Funny

Humorous

Taste And Judgment

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

Develop A Built-in Bullshit Detector.

Bad Ass

Bullshit

Ass

I Write Description In Longhand Because That's Hardest For Me And You're Closer To The Paper When You Work By Hand, But I Use The Typewriter For Dialogue Because People Speak Like A Typewriter Works.

Writing

Typewriters

Hands

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.

Retirement

Fate

Choices

Il Faut D'abord Durer (first One Must Endure).

Endurance

Firsts

Endure

The Telephone And Visitors Are The Work Destroyers.

Telephones

Visitors

Destroyers

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

Religion Is The Opium Of The Poor.

Poor

Opium

At Night, Never Go To Bed Without Knowing What You'll Write Tomorrow.

Writing

Night

Knowing

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

Men

Old Man

Longer Days

If A Writer Of Prose Knows Enough About What He Is Writing About He May Omit Things That He Knows And The Reader, If The Writer Is Writing Truly Enough, Will Have A Feeling Of Those Things As Strongly As Though The Writer Had Stated Them. The Dignity Of Movement Of An Iceberg Is Due To Only One-eighth Of It Being Above Water. A Writer Who Omits Things Because He Does Not Know Them Only Makes Hollow Places In His Writing.

Writing

Water

Feelings

As Long As You Can Start, You Are All Right. The Juice Will Come.

Wise

Long

Juice

We Ate Well And Cheaply And Drank Well And Cheaply And Slept Well And Warm Together And Loved Each Other.

Love

Happiness

Romantic

No Weapon Has Ever Settled A Moral Problem. It Can Impose A Solution But It Cannot Guarantee It To Be A Just One.

Peace

War

Guarantees

Good Dialogue Is Not Real Speech-it's The Illusion Of Real Speech.

Real

Speech

Illusion

You Must Be Prepared To Work Always Without Applause.

Appreciation

Work

Novelists

The Best Way To Become A Writer Is To Go Off And Write.

Writing

Way

Best Way

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

The Circus Is The Only Fun You Can Buy That Is Good For You.

Fun

Circus

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.

Trending Author