“You know lots of criticism is written by characters who are very academic and think it is a sign you are worthless if you make jokes or kid or even clown.”
Letter (21 June 1952); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker
Context: You know lots of criticism is written by characters who are very academic and think it is a sign you are worthless if you make jokes or kid or even clown. I wouldn't kid Our Lord if he was on the cross. But I would attempt a joke with him if I ran into him chasing the money changers out of the temple.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Ernest Hemingway 501
American author and journalist 1899–1961Related quotes
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)
“And that was a pretty heavy statement for me to hear as a child,” Ward explained. But he took it to heart, and subsequently, soared with success. “I was always very good in school because I saw the importance of it,” he said. “I never took drugs. I never smoked. I never drank…not because I was being Puritan, but because I simply did not think those things were good to do.”
As qtd. in Herbie J Pilato, “Burt Ward — The Man Wonder” https://medium.com/@herbiejpilato/burt-ward-the-man-wonder-4ba41eaf6c69, Medium, (Feb 14, 2019)
“The place itself, and ne'er a good word spoke of it,
You shiver when you even make a joke of it.”
On Hellpepper Planet, Ch. 7
Space Chantey (1968)
Context: p>The place itself, and ne'er a good word spoke of it,
You shiver when you even make a joke of it.Though some go cocky, gaily in hand-basket there,
The most fare sadly in a clammy casket there…Undying pain and gaping loss, no doubt of it.
A wide way leading in and no way out of it! But none have told the blackest horror shrouded there —
Tall teeming terror‚ but it sure is crowded there.</p
On thinking about kids who are different in “Author R.J. Palacio talks to LI kids” https://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/family/kidsday/rj-palacio-wonder-author-interview-1.20364470 in Newsday (2018 Aug 8)
Source: The world goes crazy for Lady Gaga (2009)
Context: I have found that my work has to be both deep and shallow … All of my songs have meaning, all of my clothing has iconography buried into it. But by the same token, it's just as special if you look at it in its shallowest form. A quick moment of melody, a beautiful dress. People think, "Gaga's so sweet", or "Gaga sucks". The point is that it's memorable. For commercial art to be taken seriously as fine art is a very unusual and difficult task. I think that a lot of people don't get it and a lot of people don't know what to make of me. And, you know what? I'm OK with that.