Ernest Hemingway

furled around the mast

the older days

“Age is my alarm clock,” the old man said. “Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?”

carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast.

Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated

No,” the old man said. “You’re with a lucky boat. Stay with them.”

But he liked to think about all things that he was involved in and since there was nothing to read and he did not have a radio, he thought much and he kept on thinking about sin. 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?

marched as though they were six months gone with child

“Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters.”

“Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn’t make any difference. I’ve tried all that. You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There’s nothing to that.”