--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Hemingway is terribly limited. His…" description: "\"Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in a bar very late at night, but do not enter into rel..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2d/w-h-auden-856_books_hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-techni_2639628.png" --- # Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for… ![“Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in a bar very late at night, but do not enter into relations. But not for the novel.” quote by W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2d/w-h-auden-856_books_hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-techni_2639628.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2d/w-h-auden-856_books_hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-techni_2639628.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2d/w-h-auden-856_books_hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-techni_2639628.png) > “Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in a bar very late at night, but do not enter into relations. But not for the novel.” [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Auden argues Hemingway’s style suits short, fleeting encounters but lacks depth for longer, complex relationships. **In simple terms:** Hemingway fits brief moments. Key Takeaway Recognize limits of style for depth. Themes literature style novel short story Mood analytical critical Type academic literary When to use this quote - creative writing - literary criticism - teaching Key Concepts narrative theory artistic limitation Questions to Reflect On - When does brevity serve a story? - How can you expand brief encounters? A Different Perspective May undervalue Hemingway’s later works. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hemingway/) [Hemingway Terribly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hemingway-terribly-2258050/) [Late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/late/) [Limited Technique](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/limited-technique-2258049/) [Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Relations Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relations-novel-2258051/) [Short stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/short-stories/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Technique](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technique/) [Technique Good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technique-good-916496/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [If a player has good technique and a good basic speed, but is slow in the head, this may reduce his value to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joachim-low/if-a-player-has-good-technique-and-a-good-basic-speed-but-is-slow-in/) [Joachim Low](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joachim-low/) > [If you have belief in what you do, you have a great technique, good quality product and a good service, you can expand even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anastasia-soare/if-you-have-belief-in-what-you-do-you-have-a-great-technique-good/) [Anastasia Soare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anastasia-soare/) > [I don't have any fault steps. I play with good technique and good pad level.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wilkerson/i-don-t-have-any-fault-steps-i-play-with-good-technique-and-good-pad/) [David Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wilkerson/) > [You can't save from a brilliant penalty taker and Eric Cantona was the best. His technique was so good it was a joke. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-james/you-can-t-save-from-a-brilliant-penalty-taker-and-eric-cantona-was/) [David James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-james/) > [I have great technique, a good shot, and I'm pretty good in the air.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mauro-icardi/i-have-great-technique-a-good-shot-and-i-m-pretty-good-in-the-air/) [Mauro Icardi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mauro-icardi/) > [If your opponent is tapping, your technique is good. If he is not tapping, your technique sucks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlson-gracie/if-your-opponent-is-tapping-your-technique-is-good-if-he-is-not/) [Carlson Gracie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlson-gracie/) > [Some of the guys I played with .. didn't go around learning more about their instruments from an intellectual point of view. All they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benny-goodman/some-of-the-guys-i-played-with-didn-t-go-around-learning-more-about/) [Benny Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benny-goodman/) > [Helpful to me over the years was some of Ernest Hemingway's writing, for example A Farewell to Arms. You have characters who speak Italian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miroslav-penkov/helpful-to-me-over-the-years-was-some-of-ernest-hemingway-s-writing/) [Miroslav Penkov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miroslav-penkov/) > [Ernest Hemingway was always uneasy in New York and liked being there less than in any other city he frequented.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-hotchner/ernest-hemingway-was-always-uneasy-in-new-york-and-liked-being-there/) [A. E. Hotchner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-hotchner/) > [“All right, said Nick. Let's get drunk. All right, Bill said. Let's get really drunk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/all-right-said-nick-let-s-get-drunk-all-right-bill-said-let-s-get/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Hemingway sucks. If I set out to write that way, it would have been been hollow and lifeless because it wasn't me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/hemingway-sucks-if-i-set-out-to-write-that-way-it-would-have-been/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [“But writers and their woes: they couldn't be parted. Not for anything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-wood/but-writers-and-their-woes-they-couldn-t-be-parted-not-for-anything/) [Naomi Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-wood/) > [The key for me with historical characters is they're interesting because they're human beings. A little bit of Hemingway goes a long way here,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hirst/the-key-for-me-with-historical-characters-is-they-re-interesting/) [Michael Hirst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hirst/) > [Hemingway said the only way to write about a place is to leave it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-guterson/hemingway-said-the-only-way-to-write-about-a-place-is-to-leave-it/) [David Guterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-guterson/) > [“Do you read them? Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald?" "Only if I have to. I try to avoid old dead white men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-grisham/do-you-read-them-faulkner-hemingway-fitzgerald-only-if-i-have-to-i/) [John Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-grisham/) ## More by W. H. Auden > [Pleasure is by no means an infallible critical guide, but it is the least fallible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/pleasure-is-by-no-means-an-infallible-critical-guide-but-it-is-the/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Why doesn't the United States take over the monarchy and unite with England? England does have important assets. Naturally the longer you wait, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/why-doesn-t-the-united-states-take-over-the-monarchy-and-unite-with/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [The commonest ivory tower is that of the average man, the state of passivity towards experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/the-commonest-ivory-tower-is-that-of-the-average-man-the-state-of/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Harrow the house of the dead; look shining at New styles of architecture, a change of heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/harrow-the-house-of-the-dead-look-shining-at-new-styles-of/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt this is as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/most-poetry-is-the-utterance-of-a-man-in-some-state-of-passion-love/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/men-will-pay-large-sums-to-whores-for-telling-them-they-are-not-bores/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [If age, which is certainly Just as wicked as youth, look any wiser, It is only that youth is still able to believe It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/if-age-which-is-certainly-just-as-wicked-as-youth-look-any-wiser-it/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [“Those to whom evil is done, do evil in return”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/those-to-whom-evil-is-done-do-evil-in-return/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/i-and-the-public-know-what-all-schoolchildren-learn-those-to-whom/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/one-cannot-walk-through-an-assembly-factory-and-not-feel-that-one-is/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [How happy the lot of the mathematician. He is judged solely by his peers, and the standard is so high that no colleague or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/how-happy-the-lot-of-the-mathematician-he-is-judged-solely-by-his/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/perhaps-there-is-only-one-cardinal-sin-impatience-because-of/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [The windiest militant trash Important Persons shout Is not so crude as our wish: What mad Nijinsky wrote About Diaghilev Is true of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/the-windiest-militant-trash-important-persons-shout-is-not-so-crude/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Time and fevers burn away Individual beauty from Thoughtful children, and the grave Proves the child ephemeral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/time-and-fevers-burn-away-individual-beauty-from-thoughtful-children/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [To hunt for symbols in a fairy tale is absolutely fatal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/to-hunt-for-symbols-in-a-fairy-tale-is-absolutely-fatal/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) [Explore all 344 W. H. Auden quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) [Christopher K. Krebs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-k-krebs/) > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) [Markus Herz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-herz/) > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in a bar very late at night, but do not enter into relations. But not for the novel.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W. H. Auden" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-technique-is-good-for-short-stories/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-technique-is-good-for-short-stories/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2d/w-h-auden-856_books_hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-techni_2639628.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2d/w-h-auden-856_books_hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-techni_2639628.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2d/w-h-auden-856_books_hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-techni_2639628.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique is good for short stories, for people who meet once in a bar…” — W. H. Auden", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "W. H. Auden", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Hemingway is terribly limited. His technique...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-technique-is-good-for-short-stories/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/hemingway-is-terribly-limited-his-technique-is-good-for-short-stories/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```