--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: [Imagination] is the one thing beside…" description: "\"“[Imagination] is the one thing beside honesty that a good writer must have. The more he learns from experience the more he can imagine. If he gets so ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/552/ernest-hemingway-83_imagination_imagination-is-the-one-thing-beside-hone_3115951.jpg" --- # \[Imagination\] is the one thing beside honesty that a good… ![“[Imagination] is the one thing beside honesty that a good writer must have. The more he learns from experience the more he can imagine. If he gets so he can imagine truly enough people will think that the things he relates all really happened and that he is just reporting.” quote by Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/552/ernest-hemingway-83_imagination_imagination-is-the-one-thing-beside-hone_3115951.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/552/ernest-hemingway-83_imagination_imagination-is-the-one-thing-beside-hone_3115951.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/552/ernest-hemingway-83_imagination_imagination-is-the-one-thing-beside-hone_3115951.jpg) > ““\[Imagination\] is the one thing beside honesty that a good writer must have. The more he learns from experience the more he can imagine. If he gets so he can imagine truly enough people will think that the things he relates all really happened and that he is just reporting.”” [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A writer needs imagination and honesty; experience fuels imagination, allowing believable storytelling that feels like factual reporting. **In simple terms:** Writers need imagination and honesty to make stories believable. Key Takeaway Cultivate honesty and draw on experience to enrich imagination. Themes creativity honesty storytelling Mood reflective inspirational Type literary motivational When to use this quote - writing workshops - novel drafting - journalism - teaching creative writing Key Concepts imagination experience verisimilitude Questions to Reflect On - How does personal experience shape your imagination? - When does imagination become deception? A Different Perspective Readers may still doubt authenticity if details feel fabricated. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Gets Imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gets-imagine-5454689/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Imagination Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination-thing-1493270/) [Imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagine/) [Imagine Truly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagine-truly-3764445/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I cannot truly imagine a truly great person who hasn't suffered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/i-cannot-truly-imagine-a-truly-great-person-who-hasn-t-suffered/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [“Imagination? It is the one thing beside honesty that a good writer must have. The more he learns from experience the more he can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/imagination-it-is-the-one-thing-beside-honesty-that-a-good-writer-2/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Imagination? It is the one thing beside honesty that a good writer must have. The more he learns from experience the more he can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/imagination-it-is-the-one-thing-beside-honesty-that-a-good-writer/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [The imagination is the medium of appreciation in every field. The engagement of the imagination is the only thing that makes any activity more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-imagination-is-the-medium-of-appreciation-in-every-field-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“All this is just an intent based imagination (kalpana). So then in imagination, there is no such thing as 'This is right' and 'This is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/all-this-is-just-an-intent-based-imagination-kalpana-so-then-in/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [I had an incredibly full life with my imagination: I used to have all sorts of trolls and things; I had a wonderful world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-bush/i-had-an-incredibly-full-life-with-my-imagination-i-used-to-have-all/) [Kate Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-bush/) > [Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-bunuel/fortunately-somewhere-between-chance-and-mystery-lies-imagination-the/) [Luis Bunuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-bunuel/) > [To treat your facts with imagination is one thing, to imagine your facts is another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/to-treat-your-facts-with-imagination-is-one-thing-to-imagine-your/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [...one may say anything about the history of the world - anything that might enter the most disordered imagination. The only thing one can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/one-may-say-anything-about-the-history-of-the-world-anything-that/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [Imagine: you've spent all day traipsing round London, lost in a maze of chaos, trying to find a hidden illusion; you've been living on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-brooks/imagine-you-ve-spent-all-day-traipsing-round-london-lost-in-a-maze-of/) [Kevin Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-brooks/) > [“You can create anything that you can imagine!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-anthony/you-can-create-anything-that-you-can-imagine/) [Paul Anthony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-anthony/) > [“If you can imagine it, you can create it. If you can dream it, you can become it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-arthur-ward/if-you-can-imagine-it-you-can-create-it-if-you-can-dream-it-you-can/) [William Arthur Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-arthur-ward/) > [I think the greatest imagination we can exercise is one that imagines how someone else feels. Because you know how you feel, but so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-gelbart/i-think-the-greatest-imagination-we-can-exercise-is-one-that-imagines/) [Larry Gelbart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-gelbart/) > [Imagine the world without God !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chizim/imagine-the-world-without-god/) [Chizim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chizim/) > [Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/jonah-lehrer-is-one-of-the-most-talented-explainers-of-science-that/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) ## More by Ernest Hemingway > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“There was no wind, and, outside now of the warm air of the cave, heavy with smoke of both tobacco and charcoal, with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/there-was-no-wind-and-outside-now-of-the-warm-air-of-the-cave-heavy/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“It was not brilliant bull-fighting. It was only perfect bull-fighting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/it-was-not-brilliant-bull-fighting-it-was-only-perfect-bull-fighting/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [One cat just leads to another. The place is so damned big it doesn't really seem as though there were many cats until you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/one-cat-just-leads-to-another-the-place-is-so-damned-big-it-doesn-t/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Creation's probably overrated. After all, God made the world in only six days and rested on the seventh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/creation-s-probably-overrated-after-all-god-made-the-world-in-only/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“Viva my husband who was Mayor of this town”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/viva-my-husband-who-was-mayor-of-this-town/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“The earth gets tired of being exploited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/the-earth-gets-tired-of-being-exploited/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/what-is-moral-is-what-you-feel-good-after-and-what-is-immoral-is-what/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“We drove out along the coast road. There was the green of the headlands, the white, red-roofed villas, patches of forest, and the ocean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/we-drove-out-along-the-coast-road-there-was-the-green-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [As a Nobel Prize winner I cannot but regret that the award was never given to Mark Twain, nor to Henry James, speaking only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/as-a-nobel-prize-winner-i-cannot-but-regret-that-the-award-was-never/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Oh, darling, I've been so miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/oh-darling-i-ve-been-so-miserable/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [I read my own books sometimes to cheer me when it is hard to write, and then I remember that it was always difficult,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/i-read-my-own-books-sometimes-to-cheer-me-when-it-is-hard-to-write/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“You find everything on earth at Harry's." "Yes, my Colonel. Except, possibly, happiness." "I'll damn well find happiness, too," the Colonel assured him. "Happiness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/you-find-everything-on-earth-at-harry-s-yes-my-colonel-except/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“No. It's bad for me. Cole Porter wrote the words and the music. This knowledge that you're going mad for me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/no-it-s-bad-for-me-cole-porter-wrote-the-words-and-the-music-this/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive. The boy keeps me alive, he thought. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/everything-kills-everything-else-in-some-way-fishing-kills-me-exactly/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) [Explore all 1,464 Ernest Hemingway quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## More Imagination quotes > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/a-rock-pile-ceases-to-be-a-rock-pile-the-moment-a-single-man/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [Imagination is the greatest nation in the world!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/imagination-is-the-greatest-nation-in-the-world/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [Merkel has realized that the euro is not working, but she cannot change the narrative she has created because that narrative has caught the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/merkel-has-realized-that-the-euro-is-not-working-but-she-cannot/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [Life is what you make it¦If one refuses to use ones imagination..it will be boring.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-what-you-make-it-if-one-refuses-to-use-ones-imagination-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/jonah-lehrer-is-one-of-the-most-talented-explainers-of-science-that/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) > [If you've got creativity, imagination, and intelligence, and you want to be hypnotised, then there's no reason you shouldn't be able to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-barry/if-you-ve-got-creativity-imagination-and-intelligence-and-you-want-to/) [Keith Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-barry/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [A beard is something that is almost like a mirror to the viewer. When someone sees you wearing a beard, they're seeing something in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/a-beard-is-something-that-is-almost-like-a-mirror-to-the-viewer-when/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [I like fantasy, but I don't live and breathe fantasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-schmidt-hissrich/i-like-fantasy-but-i-don-t-live-and-breathe-fantasy/) [Lauren Schmidt Hissrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-schmidt-hissrich/) > [While the world of reality has its limits, the world of your imagination is without boundaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/while-the-world-of-reality-has-its-limits-the-world-of-your/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [Edgy is fine - I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination - but what's wrong with a good ol' belly laugh?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-burnett/edgy-is-fine-i-m-not-a-prude-by-any-stretch-of-the-imagination-but/) [Carol Burnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-burnett/) > [With VR, we have this same vision, which is create this ultimate platform for sharing your imagination. Our huge community of 300,000 developers creates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-baszucki/with-vr-we-have-this-same-vision-which-is-create-this-ultimate/) [David Baszucki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-baszucki/) > [I like the idea of letting the music do its own work and the stories being more expressionful - if that's a word -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-flynn/i-like-the-idea-of-letting-the-music-do-its-own-work-and-the-stories/) [Johnny Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-flynn/) [Browse all 9,060 Imagination quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“[Imagination] is the one thing beside honesty that a good writer must have. The more he learns from experience the more he can imagine. 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