The circus is the only fun you can buy that is good for you.
Interpretation
The circus provides joyful entertainment that also has positive benefits for individuals.
In this quote, Ernest Hemingway highlights that while many forms of entertainment can be enjoyed for pleasure, the circus stands out because it offers not just amusement but also a unique, wholesome experience. It suggests that engaging in joyful activities like those found at the circus is beneficial for well-being, providing a refreshing escape from daily life.
In practice
Sharing this quote during a conversation about childhood memories at the circus.
He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy. He never dreamed about the boy. He simply woke, looked out the open door at the moon and unrolled his trousers and put them on.
How did you go bankrupt?" Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.
When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.
There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy.
Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.
There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.
When happiness is actually in possession, the thought of evil can no more acquire the feeling of reality than the thought of good can gain reality when melancholy rules. To the man actively happy, from whatever cause, evil simply cannot then and there be believed in.
There cannot be good living where there is not good drinking.
Happiness is attained by three things: being patient when tested, being thankful when receiving a blessing, and being repentant upon sinning.
One reason I don't drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time.
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
For me, beauty comes from natural happiness. I think that a woman glows, and a man, even, when they're healthy and they're happy.
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