The remark links dreaming with achievement, suggesting that imagination and ambition can be important qualities in business. Bill Gorton presents successful businessmen as people who first imagined possibilities beyond their immediate circumstances. In this sense, dreaming is not portrayed simply as idle fantasy, but as a capacity to conceive of something that does not yet exist.

Within The Sun Also Rises, however, Bill frequently speaks with humour and irony, so the line should not necessarily be read as a straightforward statement of Hemingway’s views on entrepreneurship. Its reference to successful businessmen also echoes familiar American ideas about ambition, self-advancement and material success. More broadly, the remark captures a tension between practicality and imagination: significant projects often require realistic execution, but they may begin with ideas that initially seem distant or improbable. The quote can therefore be applied to discussions of ambition, enterprise and the value of thinking beyond established limits.

Full quotation

“You ought to dream,” Bill said. “All our biggest business men have been dreamers. Look at Ford. Look at President Coolidge. Look at Rockefeller. Look at Jo Davidson.”"