Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)

Born: July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, USA

Died: July 2, 1961 (age 61) in Ketchum, Idaho, USA

Married to: Mary Welsh (14 March 1946 – 2 July 1961) (his death)
Martha Gellhorn (5 November 1940 – 21 December 1945) (divorced)
Pauline Marie Pfeiffer (10 May 1927 – 4 November 1940) (divorced) (2 children)
Elizabeth Hadley Richardson (3 September 1921 – 10 March 1927) (divorced) (1 child)

War wounds, two plane crashes, four marriages and several affairs took their toll on Hemingway’s hereditary predispositions and contributed to his declining health. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and insomnia in his later years. His mental condition was exacerbated by chronic alcoholism, diabetes and liver failure. After an unsuccessful treatment with electro-convulsive therapy, he suffered severe amnesia and his physical condition worsened. The memory loss obstructed his writing and everyday life. He committed suicide in 1961. Posthumous publications revealed a considerable body of his hidden writings, that was edited by his fourth wife, Mary, and also by his son Patrick Hemingway.

QUOTES:

As you get older, it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.

All things truly wicked start from an innocence.

There are events which are so great that if a writer has participated in them his obligation is to write truly rather than assume the presumption of altering them with invention.

All my life I’ve looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.