Letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald (4 September 1929); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker
“While there may not be a book in every one of us, there is so often a damned good short story.”
“There is no book so bad," said the bachelor, "but something good may be found in it.”
Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book III, Ch. 3.
“A good listener is one who helps us overhear ourselves.”
Signposts to Elsewhere (2008)
“The music we listen to may not define who we are. But it’s a damn good start.”
Source: Sing You Home
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part VI: Now We're Getting Somewhere, Captain John Smith
Source: Beyond This Horizon (1948; originally serialized in 1942), Chapter 15, “Probably a blind alley—”, p. 147
Context: Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gunfighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and the stupid these days. But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing.
“Every day may not be good…
but there's something good in every day”
“Every day may not be good… but there's something good in every day.”
