Famous Hemingway Quotes in Context

“There is no friend as loyal as a book. And there is no book as loyal as a friend. Wait. That doesn’t make sense. Barkeep, another round!”

— Ernest Hemingway

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a bar and drink. Don’t quote me on that. If you’re going to quote me, change ‘bar’ to ‘typewriter‘ and ‘drink’ to, uh, I don’t know. ‘Write’ seems too obvious. ‘Bleed?'”

— Ernest Hemingway

“Am I unhappy? Yeah, all geniuses are unhappy. Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. That’s why I’m jealous of people like you. Don’t give me that look. Hello? Barkeep?! Where’s my drink already?”

— Ernest Hemingway

“Do you want to see a picture of my cats? That one’s Snow White. The gray one is Beans. Look closely. See that? Six toes. It’s kind of my thing. Don’t ask me about it, though. I know I’m the one who brought it up. But I’m private. Oh and that little tabby right there is Courage. Courage is grace under pressure. He’s amazing.”

— Ernest Hemingway

“What’s a man got to do to get a drink around here? Do you know who I am, by the way? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. What was I saying? Oh, right. If you ask me, what is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after. But it’s all bullshit. All of it. Barkeep! There you are. We’d like two more scotch and sodas.”

— Ernest Hemingway

“I write poems, articles, books. I care about the human condition. I’m a scholar in that way. I’m not going to get into the ring with Tolstoy, or anything, but I’d definitely win if we went toe-to-toe. Want to know why? I’m sitting here, enjoying my drink, while he’s dead.”

— Ernest Hemingway

“I like talking to you. You’re a good listener. Want to come back to my place and meet my cats? Hey, the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. Right? Right? Oh, please. I’m not drunk. You’re drunk.”

— Ernest Hemingway

“I was joking. It was a joke. Why does everyone take everything so seriously? Calm down. Hesitation increases in relation to risk in equal proportion to age. Don’t ask me to explain. If you don’t get it, I can’t help you.”

— Ernest Hemingway

“Fine. If that’s how you feel, then I‘ll leave. I’m leaving! But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated. So you didn’t defeat me. Don’t go around saying you defeated me, because you didn’t.“

— Ernest Hemingway

“One last thing, though. I’m going to be famous. You might not believe me, but it’s true. People will say I was the voice of our generation. I’m a work in progress. The first draft of anything is shit. But one day, I’ll be a masterpiece. People will love me. They’ll quote me. You’ll see.”

— Ernest Hemingway