Quote 145
He could not talk to the fish anymore because the fish had been ruined too badly. Then something came into his head.
"Half fish," he said. "Fish that you were. I am sorry that I went too far out. I ruined us both. But we have killed many sharks, you and I, and ruined many others. How many did you ever kill, old fish? You do not have that spear on your head for nothing." (4.147, 4.148)
The old man’s guilt is ultimately not at killing the fish, but at having violated what he sees to be fundamental code of fishing by "going out too far." The phrase, of course, has greater meaning than the literal distance out to sea. The old man may have gone too far in time, as well, fishing past his physical capabilities.
Quote 146
He liked to think of the fish and what he could do to a shark if he were swimming free. I should have chopped the bill off to fight them with, he thought. But there was no hatchet and then there was no knife.
But if I had, and could have lashed it to an oar butt, what a weapon. Then we might have fought them together. (4.149, 4.150)
The old man finds kinship with the marlin against a common enemy.
Quote 147
The wind is our friend, anyway, he thought. Then he added, sometimes. And the great sea with our friends and our enemies. And bed, he thought. Bed is my friend. Just bed, he thought. Bed will be a great thing. It is easy when you are beaten, he thought. I never knew how easy it was. And what beat you, he thought. (4.171)
The old man sees no difference between a "friend" and an "enemy," because both arise from and command respect.