The Wisdom Letter #151
5 quotes from Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
✹ For today's Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated five bite-sized quotes from the American novelist and short-story writer, Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961).
Quote № 01:
“Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he thought, lying awake, that is because dull people are sometimes very happy and intelligent people can and do go around making themselves and everyone else miserable.”
— Ernest Hemingway, “Islands in the Stream”
Quote № 02:
“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”
— Ernest Hemingway, “A Farewell to Arms”
Quote № 03:
“But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
— Ernest Hemingway, “The Old Man and the Sea”
Quote № 04:
“When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen.”
— Ernest Hemingway, “Across the River and into the Trees”
Quote № 05:
“There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life. A good life is not measured by any biblical span.”
— Ernest Hemingway, “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
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✺ Today’s Questions
Three philosophical questions to foster your curiosity:
Question № 01:
Can true happiness coexist with intellectual complexity, or does the pursuit of knowledge and understanding inevitably distance one from the simplicity of joy?
Question № 02:
What is the distinction between destruction and defeat, and does the refusal to accept defeat represent ultimate human strength, or does it reflect a form of denial?
Question № 03:
Why is active listening so rare, and how does the human tendency to focus on forming responses rather than understanding others hinder meaningful communication?
✽ Thank you for reading today’s Wisdom Letter.
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Can true happiness coexist with intellectual complexity, or does the pursuit of knowledge and understanding inevitably distance one from the simplicity of joy?
True happiness is attained by knowing the path we walk is the correct path, ie an ultimate purpose to our existence. Intellectual complexity becomes a necessary companion in our lives, as we must question the path we walk until our hearts, mind soul all arrive that we are truly walking on the correct one.
Ignoring such complexities may temporarily relieve us of some difficulty, however it may manifest itself as other issues, perhaps mental and psychological in nature, if we keep ignoring questions of our own existence.
True happiness demands intellectual complexity. The pursuit of knowledge and understanding inevitably brings one closer to the simplicity of joy.
Happiness requires curiosity and the ability to find joy in the truth.