A man who wrote in the best and simplest way, literary icon Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899-1961) was born on this day in Oak Park, Illinois.

"All limitations are self-imposed," he said.

A journalist, a soldier, a man of rugged strength who defined machismo, he wrote vivid snapshots of perception with powerful words and images.

"There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges," explained the man who in 1954 survived two plane crashes in Africa.

"Never confuse movement with action," said Hemingway, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.

For his novella, The Old Man and the Sea (1952), Hemingway won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize and 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature. Some of his great works include Death in the Afternoon (1932), one of the best books ever written about bullfighting; the lost-generation's The Sun Also Rises (1926); and the World War I classic, A Farewell to Arms (1929).

A master at dialogue, Hemingway created strong, unforgettable characters who struggled for grace under pressure. His remarkable stories succinctly celebrated love and pain, death and salvation.

"Writing, at its best, is a lonely life," "Papa" Hemingway observed. "Write hard and clear about what hurts."

Writer's Digest TOP 100 Writers | More HEMINGWAY Quotations

Simplicity is best.