“The thing is to become a master and in your old age to acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing. ”

“It is the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant. You do not want music. Certainly you do not want music. Nor can you stand before a bar with dignity although that is all that is provided for these hours. What did he fear? It was not fear or dread. It was a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too.”

“I did not understand them but they did not have any mystery, and when I understood them they meant nothing to me. I was sorry about this but there was nothing I could do about it.”

“Please do it your own way.Do it in the mornings when your mind is coldDo it in the evenings when everything is sold.Do it in the springtime when springtime isn't thereDo it in the winterWe know winter wellDo it on very hot daysTry doing it in hell.Trade bed for a pencilTrade sorrow for a pageNo work it out your own wayHave good luck at your age.”

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”

“Half fish," he said. "Fish that you were. I am sorry that I went too far out. I ruined us both. But we have killed many sharks, you and I, and ruined many others. How many did you ever kill, old fish? You do not have that spear on your head for nothing.”

“No one should be alone in their old age, he thought.”