It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient. It's a bum turn, Hotch, terrible." - Meaning and context.">
Pt. 4, Ch. 14 after receiving electric shock therapy for depression

What is the sense of ruining my head and erasing my memory, which is my capital, and putting me out of business? It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient. It's a bum turn, Hotch, terrible.

— Ernest Hemingway

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "What is the sense of ruining my head and erasing my memory, which is my capital, and putting me out of business? It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient. It's a bum turn, Hotch, terrible." in the context of "Pt. 4, Ch. 14 after receiving electric shock therapy for depression" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Ernest Hemingway" (Quotes, Papa Hemingway (1966): Quotations of Hemingway from the book by A.E. Hotchner (1966 edition)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Ernest Hemingway

About Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway (21 July 1899 – 2 July 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Additional works, including three novels, four short story collections, and three non-fiction works, were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.