The Best Ernest Hemingway Quotes

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Updated August 11, 2023 73.1K views 108 items
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Must be a famous or well-known quote. If a quote is cut off you can hover over the text to see the full quote.

A list of the best Ernest Hemingway quotes. This list is arranged by which famous Ernest Hemingway quotes have received the most votes, so only the greatest Ernest Hemingway quotes are at the top of the list. All the most popular quotes from Ernest Hemingway should be listed here, but if any were missed you can add more at the end of the list. This list includes notable Ernest Hemingway quotes on various subjects, many of which are inspirational and thought provoking.

This list answers the questions, "What are the best Ernest Hemingway quotes?" and "What is the most famous Ernest Hemingway quote?"

You can see what subjects these historic Ernest Hemingway quotes fall under displayed to the right of the quote. Be sure to vote so your favorite Ernest Hemingway saying won't fall to the bottom of the list.
Most divisive: Survival, with honor, that outmoded and all-important word, is as difficult as ever and as all-important to a writer. Those who do not last are always more beloved since no one has to see them in their long, dull, unrelenting, no-quarter-given-and-no-quarter-received, fights that they make to do something as they believe it should be done before they die. Those who die or quit early and easy and with every good reason are preferred because they are understandable and human. Failure and well-disguised cowardice are more human and more beloved.
Over 400 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Ernest Hemingway Quotes
  • Courage is grace under pressure.
    1

    Courage is grace under pressure.

    56 votes
  • The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places…
    2

    The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places…

    67 votes
  • 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.
    3

    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.

    42 votes
  • Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
    4

    Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

    39 votes
  • It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end
    5

    It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end

    23 votes
  • I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.
    6

    I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.

    33 votes
  • A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
    7

    A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

    45 votes
  • As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.
    8
  • There is no friend as loyal as a book
    9

    There is no friend as loyal as a book

    24 votes
  • 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.
    10

    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.

    22 votes
  • Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
    11

    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    21 votes
  • All things truly wicked start from an innocence.
    12

    All things truly wicked start from an innocence.

    16 votes
  • There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
    13

    There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

    20 votes
  • The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places.
    14

    The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places.

    31 votes
  • How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he can go, out to where no one can help him.
    15

    How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he can go, out to where no one can help him.

    11 votes
  • The world is a fine place worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.
    16

    The world is a fine place worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.

    27 votes
  • Never mistake motion for action.
    17

    Never mistake motion for action.

    14 votes
  • We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
    18

    We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.

    13 votes
  • 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.
    19

    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.

    12 votes
  • It's enough for you to do it once for a few men to remember you. But if you do it year after year, then many people remember you and they tell it to their children, and their children and grandchildren remember and, if it concerns books, they can read them. And if it's good enough, it will last as long as there are human beings.
    20

    It's enough for you to do it once for a few men to remember you. But if you do it year after year, then many people remember you and they tell it to their children, and their children and grandchildren remember and, if it concerns books, they can read them. And if it's good enough, it will last as long as there are human beings.

    10 votes
  • All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.
    21

    All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.

    14 votes
  • Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.
    22

    Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.

    11 votes
  • I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.
    23

    I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.

    7 votes
  • The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it.
    24

    The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it.

    7 votes
  • Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up.
    25

    Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up.

    7 votes
  • 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.
    26

    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.

    7 votes
  • What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.
    27

    What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

    7 votes
  • Man is not made for defeat.
    28

    Man is not made for defeat.

    17 votes
  • 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.
    29

    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.

    12 votes
  • Don't you drink? I notice you speak slightingly of the bottle. I have drunk since I was fifteen and few things have given me more pleasure. When you work hard all day with your head and know you must work again the next day what else can change your ideas and make them run on a different plane like whisky? When you are cold and wet what else can warm you? Before an attack who can say anything that gives you the momentary well-being that rum does? The only time it isn't good for you is when you write or when you fight. You have to do that cold. But it always helps my shooting. Modern life, too, is often a mechanical oppression and liquor is the only mechanical relief.
    30

    Don't you drink? I notice you speak slightingly of the bottle. I have drunk since I was fifteen and few things have given me more pleasure. When you work hard all day with your head and know you must work again the next day what else can change your ideas and make them run on a different plane like whisky? When you are cold and wet what else can warm you? Before an attack who can say anything that gives you the momentary well-being that rum does? The only time it isn't good for you is when you write or when you fight. You have to do that cold. But it always helps my shooting. Modern life, too, is often a mechanical oppression and liquor is the only mechanical relief.

    12 votes