Quote by Ernest Hemingway

Then there is the other secret. There isn't any symbolysm. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The shark are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know.

Then there is the other secret. There isn't any symbolysm. T

Summary

This quote, attributed to Ernest Hemingway, emphasizes the rejection of symbolism in literature. It suggests that there is no hidden meaning or metaphor embedded in objects or characters; things are exactly as they appear. The sea is just the sea, the old man is an old man, and the fish is just a fish. It challenges the notion that readers should search for deeper symbolic interpretations, asserting that what truly matters is the subjective experience and understanding gained through perceptive observation.

Topics

People Man

By Ernest Hemingway

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

Getting through the nights is the toughest part. Being alone

Getting through the nights is the toughest part. Being alone. Not having her there to talk to.

Alone

I'm notorious for giving a bad interview. I'm an actor and I

I'm notorious for giving a bad interview. I'm an actor and I can't help but feel I'm boring when I'm on as myself.

Interviews

Do something every day that you don't want to do. This is th

Do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.

I don't know much about sports.

I don't know much about sports.

Sports

Hazing is an extraordinary activity that, when it occurs oft

Hazing is an extraordinary activity that, when it occurs often enough, becomes perversely ordinary as those who engage in it grow desensitized to its inhumanity.

Hank Nuwer, Wrongs of Passage

Hazing

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of t

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

Government

For me making music is part social, part interaction, part c

For me making music is part social, part interaction, part collaboration.

Music

Luna had decorated her bedroom ceiling with five beautifully

Luna had decorated her bedroom ceiling with five beautifully painted faces: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville. They were not moving as the portraits at Hogwarts moved, but there was a certain magic about them all the same: Harry thought they breathed. What appeared to be fine golden chains wove around the pictures, linking them together, but after examining them for a minute or so, Harry realized that the chains were actually one word, repeated a thousand times in golden ink: . . . . . . . . .

Friendship

My country wrong or right, is like saying my mother, drunk o

My country wrong or right, is like saying my mother, drunk or sober.

G. K. Chesterton

Patriotism

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

Baltasar Gracian, The Oracle

Ability

The poetry and transgression that was so much of surrealism'

The poetry and transgression that was so much of surrealism's anarchic force has been recruited into mainstream culture. It has been made commonplace by television and magazine merchandising, by computer games and Internet visuals, by film and MTV, by the fashion shoot.

Poetry

Let the dream go. Are there not other dreamsIn vastness of c

Let the dream go. Are there not other dreamsIn vastness of clouds hid from thy sightThat yet shall gild with beautiful gold gleams,And shoot the shadows through and through with light?What matters one lost vision of the night?Let the dream go! ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Let Them Go

Dreams