Business Quote by Ernest Hemingway
““I did not say anything. I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stock yards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway, 1929
The narrator expresses disillusionment with lofty language and symbols, seeing them as empty and disconnected from real experience.
In simple terms: Words like sacred and glorious feel hollow without real meaning.
Key Takeaway
Question the authenticity of grand rhetoric.
Themes
disillusionment
language
authenticity
Mood
cynical
reflective
Type
literary
critical
When to use this quote
- war
- political propaganda
- public speeches
- media messaging
Key Concepts
existentialism
symbolic emptiness
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you ever feel that slogans lack substance?
- How can we restore meaning to shared symbols?
A Different Perspective
The quote may overlook moments when such language truly inspires.
![“[S]ometimes, when you are a food person, the possible irrelevance of what you are doing doesn’t cross your mind until it’s too late. (Once, for example, when I was just starting out in the food business, I was hired by the caper people to develop a lot of recipes using capers, and it was weeks of…” quote by Nora Ephron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d79/nora-ephron-1217_business_s-ometimes-when-you-are-a-food-person-th_980.jpg)
![“If the State does not acquire supremacy over [vast private] enterprises, it becomes their puppet, and they become the real State.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bad/bertrand-russell-69_acquire_if-the-state-does-not-acquire-supremacy_1379.jpg)