The Snows of Kilimanjaro, written by Ernest Hemingway, is a classic short story that explores themes of death, regret, and the pursuit of dreams. This gripping tale takes place in Africa, where the main character, Harry, lies on his deathbed, reflecting on his life and the opportunities he let slip away. Throughout the story, Hemingway weaves in powerful quotes that capture the essence of the human experience and the profound impact of our choices. In this article, we will delve into some of the most thought-provoking quotes from “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.”
Read these The Snows of Kilimanjaro quotes
“The hardest thing in the world to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First, you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn, and anybody is cheating who takes politics as a way out. All the outs are too easy, and the thing itself is too hard to do.”
“Now he would never write the things that he had saved to write until he knew enough to write them well. Well, he would not have to fail at trying to write them, either. Maybe you could never write them, and that was why you put them off and delayed the starting. Well he would never know, now.”
“You kept from thinking and it was all marvellous. You weren’t afraid anymore. Just about that time, too, he began to realize that he would never write about Kansas City, that he could never write about Kansas City, or anyplace else, but he would never move from there. The number of blocks doesn’t matter.”
“There were only the great diamonds and sapphires and rubies he could never possess, and the old, vivid nightmares of booze that he could never outdrink. There were the big, quarrelsome, stupid, brutal wives he had taken who were good to sleep with but who had made him feel that he should never go home again. There was that, too, he had only himself to blame, though he would blame it on them.”
“No, that was not true. He had never blamed it on them. He had only felt it as a blankness, a mental blankness, and a physical tiredness. He had never wanted anything else from them except to be allowed to do what he wished to do.”
“He thought that he had died of shame and he felt his whole body flushing in the dark. Then he had begun to play with it. From then on, it had been easy.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, darling. I’m sorry now.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s just a little cut.”
“You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There’s nothing to that.”
“He thought he had traded a lie for a truth. But he had not. He had only traded one truth for another lie.”
“They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a higher grade of manure.”
“He had traded what he could see, remember, understand, what was conscious, for the last of the great dark spaces in the world, the Marianas, the Marianas Trench, the deepest canyon in the world. There was nothing to fear in the dark, he thought. It was like something in his mind.”
“The very rich were dull and they drank too much, or they played too much backgammon. They were dull and they were repetitious. He remembered poor Julian and his romantic awe of them and how he had started a story once that began, “The very rich are different from you and me.” And how someone had said to Julian, “Yes, they have more money.”
“I had always thought that you went to college to get a degree and then you were given a job or became a lawyer or a doctor. That was called being educated. I went for a year and they threw me out for kissing a girl.”
“You kept from thinking and it was all marvellous. You weren’t afraid anymore.”
“No, that was not true. You were never afraid unless you saw something that could kill you and had a reasonable chance of doing it.”
“He had climbed out of it finally by working and he had worked very hard. He had written the books and had enjoyed a great deal of success. He had made a great deal of money from his books and he had spent a great deal. He had been married four times and still had every alimony check he had ever written. He had bought an airplane and learned to fly it and had wrecked it and smashed his knee and broken his head and collected an accident insurance policy for the damages of the airplane and for the injuries to his head and knee. He had done everything.”
“But there was no need to worry about that now. There was no need to worry about anything. He wasn’t hungry. He wasn’t thirsty. It was slip off to sleep. It was easy. He had only to stay drunk to sleep. But now he would wake up and that would be hell, in the daytime. At night, the memory of it was only a dream-like memory of a drunken man’s speech, and you didn’t have to believe in drunken men’s speeches. At night, if the drunkenness was great enough, you closed the door of the past and the past was gone.”
“But it was there, and every time he felt the knob of the root under his heel he knew if he wanted to get up he would have to cut his foot off. But I won’t yet, he thought. There’s my foot and there’s Kilimanjaro. And if I let the gangrene come, it will fly off by itself.”
“But we pay for everything we get or take in this world; and though ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and discouragement.”
“Now we are out of the air and on the earth. It is my responsibility to get you out of Africa. I am going to get you out of Africa.””
“The hyena had been skulking by as the lioness came up and he had watched the lioness charge the hyena and sink her yellow fangs into its back and bite it and worry it and then it had turned and come to him and he had shot it in the mouth and the lioness had stood up on her hind legs and snarled at him and he shot her neatly and she fell over on her side and lay still. Then the cubs had come out and he had shot at them. The big one had dropped and the other two had run off. The lioness was not dead but she lay still and he went over and hit her a good hard crack with the barrel of the gun and she lay stiller.”
These quotes from “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” provide a glimpse into the profound moments of self-reflection, regret, and acceptance that Harry experiences in his final hours. Ernest Hemingway’s masterful storytelling and powerful language make this short story a timeless piece of literature. Whether you are a fan of Hemingway’s work or simply interested in exploring the depths of human nature, these quotes will leave a lasting impact on your mind and heart.
