Book of Quotes

The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

- "Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready."

- "But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."

- "Let him think that I am more man than I am and I will be so."

- "Now is no time
to think of what you do not have.
Think of what you can do
with that there is"

- "Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?"

- "I may not be as stong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.""Most people were heartless about turtles because a turtle's heart will beat for hours after it has been cut up and butchered. But the old man thought, I have such a heart too."

- "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 fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats, bought when the shark livers had brought 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 and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought."

- "It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought."

- "If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy. But since I am not, I do not care."

- "It is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers."

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

- "Luck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her?"

- "You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?"

- "No one should be alone in their old age, he thought."

- "Fish," he said, "I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends."

- "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."

- "And bed, he thought. Bed is my friend. Just bed, he thought. Bed will be a great thing. It is easy when you are beaten, he thought. I never knew how easy it was. And what beat you, the thought."

- "Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel?"

- "My big fish must be somewhere."

- "Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for."

- "He remembered the time he had hooked one of a pair of marlin. The male fish always let the female fish feed first and the hooked fish, the female, made a wild, panic-stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her, and all the time the male had stayed with her, crossing the line and circling with her on the surface. He had stayed so close that the old man was afraid he would cut the line with his tail which was sharp as a scythe and almost of that size and shape. When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and clubbing her across the top of her head until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors, and then, with the boy's aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat. Then, while the old man was clearing the lines and preparing the harpoon, the male fish jumped high into the air beside the boat to see where the female was and then went down deep, his lavender wings, that were his pectoral fins, spread wide and all his wide lavender stripes showing. He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed."

- "The fish is my friend too...I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him. I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars. Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, he thought. The moon runs away. But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun? We were born lucky; he thought"

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

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

- "Take a good rest, small bird," he said. "Then go in and take your chance like any man or bird or fish."

- "But, he thought, I keep them with precision. Only I have no luck anymore. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready."

- "He rested sitting on the un-stepped mast and sail and tried not to think but only to endure."

- "Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

- "I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him. I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars." Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, he thought. The moon runs away. . . . Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him. . . . There is no one worthy of eating him from the manner of his behavior and his great dignity. I do not understand these things, he thought. But it is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers."