Ernest Hemingway (July 21st, 1899 – July 2nd, 1961) was an American writer and journalist. He wrote seven novels, six short-story collections and two non-fiction books, some of which are classics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 for his novel The Old Man and the Sea.
The Sun Also Rises, his first novel, was published in 1926. His experiences during the war led to A Farewell to Arms, his 1929 novel.
Below we list some words of wisdom from Ernest Hemingway.
“Develop a built-in bullshit detector.”
“Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you quit, try.”
“The rain will stop, the night will end, the hurt will fade. Hope is never so lost that it can’t be found.”
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.”
“Life breaks all of us but some of us get stronger in the broken places.”
“The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.”
“Critics are men who watch a battle from a high place then come down and shoot the survivors.”
“Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.”
“I love you for all that you are, all that you have been, all that you’re yet to be.”
“Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be.”
“Night is always darker before the dawn and life is the same, the hard times will pass, every thing will get better and sun will shine brighter then ever.”
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.”
“The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.”
“Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry: Worry never fixes anything.”
“You must be prepared to work always without applause.”
“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”
“Being against evil doesn’t make you good.”
“The only thing that can ruin a good day is people.”
“If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it.”
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
“To be successful in writing, use short sentences.”
“When you stop doing things for fun you might as well be dead.”
“Go all the way with it. Do not back off. For once, go all the goddamn way with what matters.”
“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.”
“To hell with them. Nothing hurts if you don’t let it.”
“I drink to make other people more interesting.”
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
“Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the Romance of the unusual.”
“I was always a lonely person when I was with everyone.”
“No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.”
“Be fully in the moment, open yourself to the powerful energies dancing around you.”
“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.”
“Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.”
“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with that there is”
“No one you love is ever truly lost.”
“America is the land of wide lawns and narrow minds.”
“Show the readers everything, tell them nothing.”
“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?”
“How little we know of what there is to know.”
“Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth.”
“Home is where the heart is, home is where the fart is. Come let us fart in the home. There is no art in a fart. Still a fart may not be artless. Let us fart and artless fart in the home.”
Copyright © 2025 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo
Our FREE Spiritual Detox Script can help you get rid of toxic energy and help you make the most of your life. http://spiritualgrowthnow.com/script/
Learn more about spiritual myths, meditation and how to use it to your advantage, and much more with our Direct Your Destiny e-Package: http://spiritualgrowthnow.com/directyourdestiny/