William Faulkner quotes - page 4

Women do have an affinity for evil, for believing that no woman is to be trusted, but that some men are too innocent to protect themselves. (William Faulkner)
And even a liar can be scared into telling the truth, same as honest man can be tortured into telling a lie. View quote
William Faulkner
That's a very good way to learn the craft of writing - from reading. View quote
William Faulkner
An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why. View quote
William Faulkner
I'd have wasted a lot of time and trouble before I learned that the best way to take all people, black or white, is to take them for what they think they are, then leave them alone. View quote
William Faulkner
A man is the sum of his misfortunes. View quote
William Faulkner
The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much that he can't get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency, security, happiness, all, to get the book written. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the "Ode on a Grecian Urn” is worth any number of old ladies. View quote
William Faulkner
It's because I'm alone.. If I could just feel it, it would be different, because I would not be alone. But if I were not alone, everybody would know it. And he could do so much for me, and then I would not be alone. Then I could be all right alone. View quote
William Faulkner
... no battle is ever won ... they are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and Victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. View quote
William Faulkner
No one is without Christianity, if we agree on what we mean by the word. It is every individual's individual code of behavior by means of which he makes him or herself a better human being than their nature wants to be, if they followed their nature only. Whatever its symbol -- cross or crescent or whatever -- that symbol is man's reminder of his duty inside the human race. View quote
William Faulkner
Some days in late August at home are like this, the air thin and eager like this, with something in it sad and nostalgic and familiar... (William Faulkner)
If I had not existed, someone else would have written me, Hemingway, Dostoevski, all of us. View quote
William Faulkner
He had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long time. I knew that that word was like the others just a shape to fill a lack that when the right time came, you wouldn't need a word for that anymore than for pride or fear. View quote
William Faulkner
There were many things I could do for two or three days and earn enough money to live on for the rest of the month. By temperament I'm a vagabond and a tramp. View quote
William Faulkner
Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely. View quote
William Faulkner
It is the writer's privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart. View quote
William Faulkner
How do our lives ravel out into the no-wind, no-sound, the weary gestures wearily recapitulant: echoes of old compulsions with no-hand on no-string: in sunset we fall into furious attitudes, dead gestures of dolls. View quote
William Faulkner
And sure enough, even waiting will end... if you can just wait long enough. View quote
William Faulkner
It's all now you see: tomorrow began yesterday and yesterday won't be over until tomorrow. View quote
William Faulkner
Love doesn't die; the men and women do. View quote
William Faulkner
It's terrible to be young. It's terrible. Terrible. (William Faulkner)
I say money has no value; it's just the way you spend it. View quote
William Faulkner
She is like all the rest of them. Whether they are seventeen or fortyseven, when they finally come to surrender completely, it's going to be in words. View quote
William Faulkner
Tell about the South. What's it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all. View quote
William Faulkner
There is no such thing as was-only is. If was existed, there would be no grief or sorrow. View quote
William Faulkner