1)Paul was too young to swing an axe or pull a saw all day, and besides he had decided this early that he had two major purposes in life: to fish and not to work, at least not allow work to interfere with fishing. In his teens, then, he got a summer job as a lifeguard at the municipal swimming pool, so in the early days he could look over girls in bathing suits and date them up for the late evenings. . .Early, then, he had come close to realizing life’s purposes, which did not conflict in his mind from those given in answer to the first question in the Westminster Catechism. (6-7) ("Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.")
There is more to life then just fishing. I know he doesn't want to work, he would rather spend his time watching girls and fishing. You have to have money to buy the equipment and get to the place where you want to fish. He is just lazy and needs to get a really job.
2)[Florence, Norman’s mother-in-law] She knew how to clean fish when the men forgot to, and she knew how to cook them, and, most important, she knew always to peer into the fisherman’s basket and exclaim “My, my!” so she knew all that any woman of her time knew about fishing, although it is also true that she knew absolutely nothing about fishing.
Men have big Egos. It is part of a womens job to make them feel big and tough. So when you tell them that what they did was a great thing it boosts their ego. They drive off of it so when Florence said that about all the fish inthe basket even if there wasn't much in there she did her job in boosting the mens ego.
3) My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things--trout as well as eternal salvation--come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.
Norman's father believes everything comes by grace. Nothing comes easily, you have to work at it. If you want to become a great painter you need to practice. You need to work at all the stuff you want and need because it wont be given to you.
4) Many of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to be better.
People think that you need to wait till the time is right to do certain things or get better; but if they wait it might just pass them by. Take for instance alot of married couples think that they need to wait till they have money to start having kids. To be honest, there will never be a perfect time to have enough money to have kids. Just take the chance and go for it.