Upon the publication of his first novel "The Sun Also Rises" in 1926, Ernest Hemingway became a star almost immediately after his literary debut. Widely accepted as his greatest, and most important novel of all time with critics praising as the ultimate example of modernist style and Hemingway's coined "Iceberg Theory" approach to writing owing to his minimalist craft fostered from his time as a journalist, the native of Oak Park, Illinois boasted an illustrious career that spanned well after his death in 1961, with several of his works published posthumously. Also praised for his novels "Farewell to Arms" and "The Old Man and the Sea", Hemingway went onto win a Pulitzer in 1953, and one year later, a Nobel Prize in Literature -- 7 years before his untimely suicide.
Nevertheless, to this day, Ernest Hemingway is often as the greatest writer, and perhaps among the greatest men to have ever wreaked havoc on the life he was given. As boisterous as he was daring, the veteran of WWI, and the chief crown jewel of a list of writers dubbed "The Lost Generation", Hemingway remains forever revered as the epitome courage. One who's grace grew all the more formidable beneath the utmost pressure. Here are five quotes that not only attest to his mettle but his adept prowess as a writer:
1. “Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.”
An infamous binge drinker much to the detriment of his health, and perhaps occasionally, to his dignity, Hemingway understood better than most that nothing stung more than sobriety than regret. Nevertheless, this quote offers insight into the importance of humility. Something Hemingway was little known for in person, but nevertheless, was an intrinsic part of the power of his work, and the success that came with it.
2. “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
A man of unparalleled insight and the torment it bore him, Hemingway, like many writers who rose to prominence after The Great War, were hardly merciful in their critique of the perceived happiness that came with possessing knowledge and the answer to every question. Noting to his readers that such an experience was more likely to leave one disillusioned than fulfilled.
3. “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
Nothing explains a quote better than the quote. You only really no someone is worthy of your trust if trust is exactly what you invest in him/her. Its a gamble, but at least you'll know.
4. “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
Writer's are competitive, and Hemingway had a fair share of it during his time, having to match up against the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Gertrude Stein, and Flannery O'Connor to name just a few. But Hemingway knew that the growth of art itself was highly predicated on the person putting forth the work. Though far superior to many of his contemporaries, his humble approach to writing caused the Hemingway then to strive to be better than the Hemingway of yesterday. And that was it.
5. “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.”
As a WWI veteran who witnessed many of its horrors, and the atrocities humanity was capable of inflicting on itself, Hemingway was one of many artists in the era that followed left hollowed, shattered by such a travail. Yet, as a man of great persistence and courage lasting until it was the last of anything courageous, Hemingway may have perhaps broke, but he was not broken. For the novelist, the sum of any human being was not the number of scars that marred his/her flesh, but to endure. To show that despite what flesh was broken and badly torn, it could heal, and be used to heal.
Although it breaks one to read Hemingway's works beneath the memory that he no longer remains, his words linger yet for a bit longer. Filling pages. Filling the human heart with the reminder that it is a heart. A heart with a job to beat. With courage. Against despite broken. In places where many can beat strong in its place.
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