“The hardest thing to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn, and anybody is cheating who takes politics as a way out. All the outs are too easy, and the thing itself is too hard to do.”
Cite this quote
APA
Hemingway, E. (n.d.). The hardest thing to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn, and anybody is cheating who takes politics as a way out. All the outs are too easy, and the thing itself is too hard to do. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26952-the-hardest-thing-to-do-is-to-write/
MLA
Hemingway, Ernest. “The hardest thing to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn, and anybody is cheating who takes politics as a way out. All the outs are too easy, and the thing itself is too hard to do.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26952-the-hardest-thing-to-do-is-to-write/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Hemingway, Ernest. “The hardest thing to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn, and anybody is cheating who takes politics as a way out. All the outs are too easy, and the thing itself is too hard to do.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26952-the-hardest-thing-to-do-is-to-write/.