Papa Quotes
Shmoop will make you a better lover...of quotes
ALL QUOTES POPULAR BROWSE BY AUTHOR BROWSE BY SOURCE BROWSE BY TOPIC BROWSE BY SUBJECT
Source: Papa
Author: Ernest Hemingway
For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
Context
People mistakenly think this line is from author Ernest Hemingway.
Why read giant doorstops of books like Moby Dick, War & Peace, or Anna Karenina when you can get a complete story in six words? Ernest Hemingway was never wordy, but he outdid himself with the flashiest of flash fiction, a "short story" he wrote for a bet. Six words later he won that bet.
Except that he didn't. This whole short short-story story is all fiction, guys. The anecdote got life from a one-man play written by John deGroot about Ernest Hemingway. While mostly biographical, this part of the play was entirely made up.
Where you've heard it
You've heard this in your creative writing class when learning about flash fiction, or when you're being told that you're way too wordy.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
Anybody who quotes Hemingway is pretentious, but quoting something Hemingway actually never wrote is almost off the charts.