Gertrude Stein? Ernest Hemingway? Hotel Keeper? Automobile Repair Shop Owner? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Would you please explore the provenance of the following expression? Here are two versions: You are all a lost generation. You are all a génération perdue. The phrase “lost generation” has been applied to young people who experienced the repercussions …
Category Archives: Ernest Hemingway
Quote Origin: The Sea Is the Sea. The Old Man Is an Old Man
Ernest Hemingway? Bernard Berenson? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Ernest Hemingway’s classic novella “The Old Man and the Sea” has been exhaustively analyzed by critics and commentators. Beleaguered high school students have been coerced into composing essays about the tale. Unsurprisingly, the story has been transformed into a cornucopia for symbol generation. Yet, Hemingway himself …
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Always Do Sober What You Said You’d Do Drunk. That Will Teach You To Keep Your Mouth Shut
Ernest Hemingway? Charles Scribner IV? Malcolm Forbes? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway once described a strategy to reduce drunken boasting. The inebriated person should wait until soberness returns and then perform the foolish boastful actions. Thus, one will quickly learn to keep one’s mouth shut. Is this genuine advice from …
The Rain Will Stop; The Night Will End; The Hurt Will Fade. Hope Is Never So Lost That It Can’t Be Found
Ernest Hemingway? Mandy Hale? The Single Woman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I recently encountered a quotation using evocative language about the rain stopping and the night ending. The quotation emphasized that one should feel hopeful. Oddly, the famous author Ernest Hemingway received credit for the remark, but I do not think it sounds anything like …
It Is Good To Have an End To Journey Towards; But It Is the Journey That Matters, in the End
Ernest Hemingway? Ursula K. Le Guin? Lynn H. Hough? Dear Quote Investigator: It is natural to assign meaning or purpose to the terminus of a long journey, but the value truly lies within the journey itself. This notion has been expressed as follows: It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it …
A Baby Learns To Speak in Two Years, But It Takes a Lifetime To Learn To Keep Quiet
Ernest Hemingway? Mark Twain? Luke McLuke? Lydia DeVilbiss? Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.? Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.? Frederick B. Wilcox? Abigail Van Buren? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: While searching the twitter database I encountered the following two similar jokes: (1) Humans need two years to learn to speak and sixty years to learn to shut up. …
I Work From About Seven Until About Noon. Then I Go Fishing or Swimming, or Whatever I Want
Ernest Hemingway? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Did Ernest Hemingway drink heavily while he was writing? How many hours did he spend working each day? Can you find an interview containing quotations that illuminate his drinking and writing habits? Quote Investigator: Shortly before Hemingway died in 1961, he participated in an interview conducted by Edward Stafford …
Dialogue Origin: “How Did You Go Bankrupt?” “Two Ways. Gradually and Then Suddenly.”
Creator: Ernest Hemingway, U.S. author, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature Context: The character Mike Campbell in the 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises” was asked about his money troubles and responded with a vivid description embracing self-contradiction: “How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” “What brought …
Do Not Wait To Strike Till the Iron Is Hot; But Make It Hot By Striking
William Butler Yeats? William B. Sprague? Benjamin Franklin? Richard Sharp? Charles Lamb? Charles Caleb Colton? Oliver Cromwell? Peleg Sprague? Ernest Hemingway? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A popular proverb highlights the limited duration of an opportunity: Strike while the iron is hot. This metaphor has been astutely extended with advice for greater challenges: Make the iron …
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There Is Nothing Noble in Being Superior to Some Other Man. The True Nobility Is in Being Superior to Your Previous Self
Ernest Hemingway? W. L. Sheldon? Hindu Proverb? Khryter? Seneca? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A quotation about “true nobility” attributed to the Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway suggests that one should avoid comparing oneself to others. I haven’t been able to find a solid citation. Would you please trace this aphorism? Quote Investigator: Ernest Hemingway was …