Quotes from book

The Old Man and the Sea

“I may not be as stong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.”

“Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead.”

“I hate a cramp, he thought. It is a treachery of one's own body.”

“It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought.”

“Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.”

“But man is not made for defeat... a man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

“Do not think about sin, he thought. There are enough problems now without sin. Also I have no understanding of it.”

“You did not do so badly for something that is worthless. But there was a time when I could not find you.”

“Every day above earth is a good day.”

“Age is my alarm clock,” the old man said. “Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?”
“I don’t know,” the boy said. “All I know is that young boys sleep late and hard.”

“Keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man. Or a fish, he thought.”

“Ay,' he said aloud. There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood.”

“He always thought of the sea as la mar, which is what people call her in spanish when they love her. Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her, but they are always said as though she were a woman. Some of the younger fisherman, those who used buoys as floats for their lines or had motorboats bought when the shark lovers had much money, spoke of her as el mar, which is masculine, they spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy. But the old man always thought of her as feminine, as something that gave or withheld great favors. If she did wild or wicked things, it is because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought.”