The questioners had that beautiful detachment and devotion to stern justice of men dealing in death without being in any danger of it.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the complex relationship between justice and detachment in life and death scenarios.
Ernest Hemingway reflects on the nature of individuals who seek to understand or judge the acts surrounding death and justice, portraying a dichotomy where these questioners possess a sense of detachment from the dangers they scrutinize. They approach the concept of justice with a steadfast commitment, yet are shielded from its immediate consequences, illustrating a philosophical contemplation on moral responsibility and the human condition.
In practice
In a speech about ethical responsibilities, one might use this quote to illustrate the moral complexities of judgment in life.
He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy. He never dreamed about the boy. He simply woke, looked out the open door at the moon and unrolled his trousers and put them on.
How did you go bankrupt?" Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.
When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.
There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy.
Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.
There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.
The first and last lesson of religion is, "The things that are seen, are temporal; the things that are unseen, are eternal." It puts an affront upon nature.
We all labour against our own cure, for death is the cure of all diseases.
In the country of the blind the one eyed man is king.
I begin each day with holy Mass, receiving Jesus hidden under the appearance of a simple piece of bread. Then I go out into the streets and I find the same Jesus hidden in the dying destitute, the AIDS patients, the lepers, the abandoned children, the hungry, and the homeless. It's the same Jesus.
One does not want to be deceived, under the supposition that it is injurious, dangerous, or fatal to be deceived.
When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work.
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