# Quote — Ernest Hemingway, Islands in the Stream

> The house was built on the highest part of the narrow tongue of land between the harbor and the open sea. It had lasted through three hurricanes and it was built solid as a ship. It was shaded by tall coconut palms that were bent by the trade wind and on the ocean side you could walk out of the door and down the bluff across the white sand and into the Gulf Stream. The water of the Stream was usually a dark blue when you looked out at it when there was no wind. But when you walked out into it there was just the green light of the water over that floury white sand and you could see the shadow of any big fish a long time before he could ever come in close to the beach.
>
> It was a safe and fine place to bathe in the day but it was no place to swim at night. At night the sharks came in close to the beach, hunting at the edge of the Stream, and from the upper porch of the house on quiet nights you could hear the splashing of the fish they hunted and if you went down to the beach you could see the phosphorescent wakes they made in the water. At night the sharks had no fear and everything else feared them. But in the day they stayed out away from the clear white sand and if they did come in you could see their shadows a long way away.

- Author: [Ernest Hemingway](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway.md)
- Book: [Islands in the Stream](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/islands-in-the-stream.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway#Islands_in_the_Stream_(1970)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/islands-in-the-stream/the-house-was

## More from this book

> Now Tom was - the hell with that, he said to himself. It is something that happens to everybody. I should know about that by now. It is the only thing that is really final, though.
>
> How do you know that? he asked himself. Going away can be final. Walking out the door can be final. Any form of real betrayal can be final. Dishonesty can be final. Selling out is final. But you are just talking now. Death is what is really final.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/islands-in-the-stream/now-tom-was.md)

> All a man has is pride. Sometimes you have it so much it is a sin. We have all done things for pride that we knew were impossible. We didn't care. But a man must implement his pride with intelligence and care.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/islands-in-the-stream/all-a-man.md)

> 'Shit,' said Eddie. 'What the fuck they kill that Davy for?'
>
> 'Let's leave it alone, Eddy,' Thomas Hudson said. 'It's way past things we know about.'

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/islands-in-the-stream/shit-said-eddie.md)