Eschew the monumental. Shun the Epic. All the guys who can paint great big pictures can paint great small ones.
Interpretation
Focus on the small and meaningful rather than the grand and overwhelming.
In this quote, Hemingway encourages us to appreciate the beauty and significance of smaller, more intimate works of art instead of being dazzled by grandiose creations. He implies that skillful artists can express profound ideas not just through large canvases, but also through smaller, more personal pieces that convey depth and emotion.
In practice
This quote could be used in an art class to encourage students to appreciate smaller, detailed works.
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.
In the writing process, the more the story cooks, the better. The brain works for you even when you are at rest. I find dreams particularly useful. I myself think a great deal before I go to sleep and the details sometimes unfold in the dream.
I think it's important to leave spaces in a story for readers to fill in from their own experience.
And I think as long as a song has beautiful lyrics, I'm so happy.
Saints have no moderation, nor do poets, just exuberance.
I look at a nude. There are myriads of tiny tints. I must find the ones that will make the flesh on my canvas live and quiver.
Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you're playing through your own experience - so we're all different.
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