"There are events which are so great that if a writer has participated in them his obligation is to write truly rather than assume the presumption of altering them with invention"
- Ernest Hemingway
About this Quote
This quote by Ernest Hemingway suggests that when a writer has experienced a momentous occasion, they have an obligation to accurately portray it in their writing. Hemingway is suggesting that it is wrong to change the reality of the event with fiction, as it is the author's responsibility to stay genuine. He is recommending that the author must not take the liberty of changing the realities of the event, as it is their duty to accurately portray it. This quote is a pointer to writers that they ought to not take the liberty of altering the truth of an occasion, as it is their duty to remain genuine. Hemingway is emphasizing the significance of accurately representing events in composing, as it is the writer's responsibility to stay truthful.
"To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization"
"Having soon discovered to be great, I must appear so, and therefore studiously avoided mixing in society, and wrapped myself in mystery, devoting my time to fasting and prayer"