Got tight last night on absinthe and did knife tricks. Great success shooting the knife underhand into the piano. The woodworms are so bad and eat hell out of all the furniture that you can always claim the woodworms did it.
Interpretation
This quote humorously reflects on the unpredictability of life and the absurdities that can arise from unusual situations.
In this quote, Hemingway recounts a night of drinking absinthe and performing risky knife tricks, which illustrates both the reckless adventure and the folly of trying to impress others. The mention of woodworms adds a layer of absurdity, suggesting that one can always blame external circumstances for mishaps, highlighting the chaotic nature of life and the humorous rationalizations we make.
In practice
During a public speaking event about embracing life’s absurdities.
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.
The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.
I can levitate birds. No one cares.
Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.
The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.
I think when I was young, let's call it high school, and even before that, I just loved comedy, and I loved comedians. I grew up watching Laurel and Hardy. That's really a long time ago. I loved Jerry Lewis. I just loved comedians.
Golf acts as a corrective against sinful pride. I attribute the insane arrogance of the later Roman Emperors almost entirely to the fact that, never having played golf, they never knew that strange chastening humility which is engendered by a topped chip shot. If Cleopatra had been ousted in the first round of the Ladies' Singles, we should have heard a lot less of her proud imperiousness.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.