A Gem of a Quote

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A Gem of a Quote

In the movie Midnight in Paris the character of Ernest Hemingway speaks the following line when counseling a budding novelist:  

“No subject is terrible if the story is true and if the prose is clean and honest and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure.”  

This is not an actual quote by Hemingway but an idealized version of the kind of language he might have used.  As I watched the movie (for the second time) last night, I was struck by the quote and took the time to write it down.  I considered the idea of speaking with courage and truth, using clean and honest prose and doing it with grace even when outside or internal pressures exist.  There seemed to be much to take away from this one compact sentence; ideas that might be useful to writers but also might benefit all of us in our day to day interpersonal relationships.   Keeping things clean and honest, speaking the truth to those we love, acting courageously when faced with the darkness in humanity and summoning our inner grace to move through our days. 

I love being handed a gem of a quote such as this.  It creates a pause in my day to consider words spoken by another, words that speak a profound truth to me, a truth I can carry into the New Year.  Maybe it speaks a truth to you as well.