Quotes from book
For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia.

Ernest Hemingway photo

“You never kill anyone you want to kill in a war, he said to himself.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemingway photo

“Do you know how an ugly woman feels? Do you know what it is to be ugly all your life and inside to feel that you are beautiful? It is very rare.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemingway photo

“For him it was a dark passage which led to nowhere, then to nowhere, then again to nowhere, once again to nowhere, always and forever to nowhere, heavy on the elbows in the earth to nowhere, dark, never any end to nowhere, hung on all time always to unknowing nowhere, this time and again for always to nowhere, now not to be borne once again always and to nowhere, now beyond all bearing up, up, up and into nowhere, suddenly, scaldingly, holdingly all nowhere gone and time absolutely still and they were both there, time having stopped and he felt the earth move out and away from under them.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), Ch. 13

Ernest Hemingway photo

“If every one said orders were impossible to carry out when they were received where would you be? Where would we all be if you just said, "Impossible," when orders came?”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

Ernest Hemingway photo

“But are there not many Fascists in your country?'
'There are many who do not know they are Fascists, but will find it out when the time comes'.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), Ch. 16 <!-- p 208-->

Ernest Hemingway photo

“What a business. You go along your whole life and they seem as though they mean something and they always end up not meaning anything. There was never any of what this is. You think that is one thing you will never have. And then, on a lousy show like this, co-ordinating two chicken-crut guerilla bands to help you blow a bridge under impossible conditions, to abort a counter-offensive that will probably already be started, you run into a girl like this Maria.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), Ch. 13

Ernest Hemingway photo

“I am no romantic glorifier of the Spanish woman, nor did I ever think of a casual piece as anything much other than a casual piece in any country. But when I am with Maria I love her so that I feel, literally, as though I would die and I never believed in that or thought that it could happen.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), Ch. 13

Ernest Hemingway photo

“But are there not many Fascists in your country?”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

'There are many who do not know they are Fascists, but will find it out when the time comes'.
Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), Ch. 16