Ernest Hemingway
The author Ernest Hemingway once wrote:
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”
Here are his top insights on how to draw strength from your deepest pain, pulled directly from his work:
“Write hard and clear about what hurts.”
Pain must be confronted
Time alone doesn’t heal all - dread, regret, and heartbreak need examination
Writing about your pains is an act of courage:
The pain may linger, but you become strong enough to handle it
“you have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously”
Pain is a great teacher
Better to be scarred with wisdom than soft-skinned and sheltered...
You must live a courageous life, and welcome the pains that boldness brings
Your calluses will be badges of a honor
“But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
Your duty is to fight
The world can take EVERYTHING - even your life - but not your resolve
Persevere through pain, and you discover both who you are and what life's about
“you can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another”
You have to live with yourself
No amount of wealth, luxury, nor leisure can cure your pain
The answer is not looking without, but within
Seek to know yourself, rather than the world
“virtues make [good people] vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed”
The good die young
Shortness of life is tragic... but a short life lived nobly is heroic
“life isn't hard to manage when you've nothing to lose”
Wealth can enslave you
No one is blinder than a man who worships his fortune
Poverty is pain, but offers simplicity - a starving stomach finds grace in a grain of bread
Learn to live with little
“I did not care what [life] was all about. All I wanted to know was how to live in it. Maybe if you found out how to live in it you learned what it is was all about.”
Life isn’t a puzzle solved by thinking, but a secret discovered by LIVING...
Adventure makes sense of pain
“The coward dies a thousand deaths… The brave dies perhaps two thousand deaths if he's intelligent.”
Courageous people are just as terrified as cowards
The difference is they face their fears... everyday
You’ll always be scared; bravery is choosing to fight anyways
“In your old age [you must] acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing”
Children are joyous, hopeful, and optimistic
Adults are callused with suffering and cynicism
In old age, choosing hope despite your pain is the ultimate act of courage
“You’ll ache. And you’re going to love it. It will crush you. And you’re still going to love all of it. Doesn’t it sound lovely beyond belief?”
Anything you love dearly will crush you
The secret is - there's beauty in the agony of love
Love makes suffering worthwhile
“You must be prepared to work always without applause.”
Labor is grueling - rewards make it easier
However
If you EXPECT accolades for your efforts, you’ll be crushed
You’ll fare well in life if you learn to expect nothing:
Work without applause
“There will always be people who say [love] does not exist because they cannot have it. But I tell you it is true and that you [can] have it”
Love fuels all life's hope
If you give up on love, you give up on life
Be loving, and you'll have more than your fair share of love
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