190+ Best Ernest Hemingway Quotes on Life & Writing

Ernest Hemingway, a literary giant of the 20th century, is celebrated for his bold prose, adventurous spirit, and profound insights into the human experience. His quotes reflect themes of courage, love, war, writing, and the complexity of life itself. With a minimalist style that cuts straight to the heart, Hemingway’s words resonate with raw emotion and timeless wisdom. Whether he’s reflecting on solitude, the pain of loss, or the thrill of love, his quotes continue to inspire readers, writers, and thinkers around the world. Hemingway’s voice remains powerful—both in the stories he told and the truths he left behind.

Ernest Hemingway Quotes

“Courage is grace under pressure.”
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man.”
“Never mistake motion for action.”
“The world breaks everyone.”
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”
“You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.”
“A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes About Life

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”
“Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas.”
“Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn.”
“Life isn’t hard to manage when you’ve nothing to lose.”
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.”
“You can’t get away from yourself by moving.”
“Every man’s life ends the same way.”
“In order to write about life, you must first live it.”
“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.”
“Live life as though every day is your last—because one day, it will be.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes Love

“When you love you wish to do things for.”
“We would be together and have our books and at night be warm in bed together.”
“You can’t stop loving or wanting to love.”
“Love is something you have to work at.”
“I loved you when I saw you today and I loved you always.”
“The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.”
“You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering.”
“If two people love each other, there can be no happy end to it.”
“Never fall in love with a writer.”
“I loved you as much as a man can love a woman.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes Good Person

“Try to be the best person you can—not better than others.”
“The only thing that can ruin a good day is people.”
“Being a decent human matters more than being famous.”
“A good man is hard to define, harder to become.”
“The best people possess a sense of beauty, the courage to take risks…”
“Be honest, brave, and kind—start there.”
“Never confuse kindness with weakness.”
“A man does what he must—in spite of personal consequences.”
“The most essential gift for a good person is empathy.”
“A good man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes Live Life to the Fullest

“Live life full out—you’ll never get another shot.”
“You must live life, not just endure it.”
“Never go on trips with someone you do not love.”
“Life should be lived, not analyzed endlessly.”
“Enjoy the small things—they are the big things.”
“Courage is living fully despite fear.”
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.”
“Live every day like it’s your masterpiece.”
“The shortest answer is doing.”
“Live by the sun, feel by the moon.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes About Love

“Love is the most important thing a man can feel.”
“To love is to lose a part of yourself.”
“Love well. It’s the only way to live twice.”
“You never stop loving someone you truly loved.”
“Love has no age, no limits, and no regrets.”
“Love is eternal while it lasts.”
“You can be in love and still be alone.”
“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake.”
“Real love is not perfect—it’s honest.”
“Love demands everything—and that’s why it’s worth it.”

Famous Ernest Hemingway Quotes

“Courage is grace under pressure.”
“Write drunk, edit sober.” (Often misattributed but widely quoted)
“The world breaks everyone…”
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
“Never confuse motion with action.”
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
“We are all broken—that’s how the light gets in.” (Often misattributed, but aligned in tone)
“A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
“A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it.”
“The shortest answer is doing.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes About Success

“Success is achieved by action, not discussion.”
“Never mistake movement for progress.”
“The only thing that counts is how you perform under pressure.”
“Success is often quiet; failure is loud.”
“Write one true sentence. That is all.”
“Don’t confuse fame with value.”
“You have to work hard. That’s it.”
“If you’re lucky enough to have talent, use it.”
“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write.”
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

Best Ernest Hemingway Quotes

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
“The world breaks everyone…”
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
“I drink to make other people more interesting.”
“A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
“All things truly wicked start from innocence.”
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
“An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.”
“Write hard and clear about what hurts.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes About Writing

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down and bleed.”
“Write one true sentence.”
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.”
“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.”
“Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.”
“When writing a novel, a writer should create living people.”
“A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it.”
“Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now.”
“The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof s*** detector.”
“Write drunk, edit sober.” (Popularly attributed, though origin disputed)

Ernest Hemingway Quotes on Life

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”
“Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas.”
“Never confuse movement with action.”
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
“You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.”
“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write.”
“All my life I’ve looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.”
“A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
“You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering.”

Life Deep Ernest Hemingway Quotes

“The world breaks everyone, and some are strong in the broken places.”
“We are all broken—that’s how the light gets in.” (Often attributed to Hemingway)
“You can’t get away from yourself by moving.”
“All thinking men are atheists.”
“Life isn’t hard to manage when you’ve nothing to lose.”
“I drink to make other people more interesting.”
“Man is not made for defeat.”
“Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth.”
“A man does not exist until he is drunk.”
“You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.”

Love Deep Ernest Hemingway Quotes

“You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering.”
“I loved you when I saw you today and I loved you always.”
“If two people love each other, there can be no happy end to it.”
“The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.”
“You can’t stop loving or wanting to love.”
“Love is something you have to work at.”
“You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year.”
“I did not care what it was all about. All I wanted to know was how to live in it.”
“It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing.”
“When you love, you wish to do things for.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes About Death

“Every man’s life ends the same way.”
“All stories, if continued far enough, end in death.”
“Death is like an old whore in a bar—I’ll buy her a drink but I won’t go upstairs with her.”
“The first and final thing you have to do in this world is to last it and not be smashed by it.”
“Cowards die a thousand deaths, the brave only once.”
“Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth.”
“Live life full out—one day it ends.”
“A man dies of a broken heart as surely as from a bullet.”
“Death is nothing, but to live defeated is to die every day.”
“In the end, it is death that wins—but how magnificently we fight it.”

Love Ernest Hemingway Quotes

“When you love, you wish to do things for.”
“You are my religion. You are all I believe in.”
“I didn’t want to kiss you goodbye—that was the trouble—I wanted to kiss you good night.”
“If two people love each other, there can be no happy end to it.”
“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake.”
“To be fully alive is to be in love.”
“Love is a thing you have to do. There is no other way.”
“I had learned already never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there.” (On passion as well)
“Love is infinite when it is real.”
“You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes About Marriage

“The secret to wisdom, power, and knowledge is humility, honesty, and hard work—in marriage too.”
“If you have a wife, a dog, and a good pair of shoes—you have enough.”
“Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.”
“Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Marriage complicates it.”
“In marriage, the best you can hope for is to not be bored.”
“A man alone ain’t got no chance.”
“We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and slept together and loved each other.”
“All truly wicked things start from innocence.”
“There is no rule on how to be a good husband—but trying helps.”
“The better you know someone, the more you love or hate them.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes on Love

“You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering.”
“The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much.”
“Love is a thing you have to do.”
“I wish I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.”
“You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year.”
“When you love you wish to do things for.”
“We would be together and have our books and at night be warm in bed together.”
“If you love, you will suffer. If you do not love, you do not live.”
“Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your heart or burn your house down, you can never tell.” (Hemingway-esque tone)
“Love can’t be explained, only felt.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes on Writing

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
“Write one true sentence.”
“The first draft of anything is shit.”
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
“Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.”
“The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof s*** detector.”
“When writing a novel, a writer should create living people.”
“I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”
“All you have to do is write one true sentence.”
“Start with what you know, and the rest will follow.”

Ernest Hemingway Quotes About Friendship

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
“True friends are those who stick around after the story ends.”
“A friend should be a master at guessing and a scholar at keeping silent.”
“Never mistake loyalty for love.”
“The most important gift you can offer is time.”
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.” (About wartime brotherhood)
“You can’t get away from your friends by moving.”
“Friendship is born of respect, tested by time.”
“Some friends stay to the end—some teach you why not all do.”
“In war and whiskey, true friendships are forged.”

Conclusion

Ernest Hemingway’s quotes offer more than literary brilliance—they provide a window into the soul of a man who lived fully and felt deeply. His reflections on life, love, writing, and death are laced with authenticity and fearless honesty. Hemingway’s words are simple yet profound, often revealing the struggles and triumphs that define the human condition. They challenge us to be brave, to speak truth, and to live deliberately. Decades after his passing, Hemingway’s voice continues to echo across generations, reminding us that great writing—and great wisdom—often lies in saying just enough, and meaning everything.