William Styron Quotes

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Age Books Books And Reading Critics Depression Literature Morning

Depression is a disorder of mood, so mysteriously painful and elusive in the way it becomes known to the self -- to the mediating intellect-- as to verge close to being beyond description. It thus remains nearly incomprehensible to those who have not experienced it in its extreme mode.

William Styron

Self, Way, Painful

William Styron (1990). “Darkness visible: a memoir of madness”, Random House Incorporated

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A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.

William Styron

Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

William Styron, James L. W. West (1985). “Conversations with William Styron”, p.12, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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In the absence of hope we must still struggle to survive, and so we do-by the skin of our teeth.

William Styron

Struggle, Skins, Teeth

William Styron (1990). “Darkness visible: a memoir of madness”, Random House Incorporated

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What this country needs... what this great land of ours needs is something to happen to it. Something ferocious and tragic, like what happened to Jericho or the cities of the plain - something terrible I mean, son, so that when the people have been through hellfire and the crucible, and have suffered agony enough and grief, they’ll be people again, human beings, not a bunch of smug contented cows rooting at the trough.

William Styron

Country, Grief, Mean

William Styron (1993). “Set this House on Fire”, Vintage

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Let your love flow out on all living things.

William Styron

Love, Flow, Living Things

William Styron (1979). “Sophie's Choice”, Random House Large Print Publishing

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Reading - the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay.

William Styron

Loneliness, Reading, Library

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It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.

William Styron

Depression, Crush, Pain

"Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness". Book by William Styron (Chapter VI), 1990.

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The pain of depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain.

William Styron

Suicide, Pain, Prevention

William Styron (1990). “Darkness visible: a memoir of madness”, Random House Incorporated

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The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads.

William Styron

Writing, Age, Literature

William Styron, James L. W. West (1985). “Conversations with William Styron”, p.19, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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The pain is unrelenting; one does not abandon, even briefly, one's bed of nails, but is attached to it wherever one goes.

William Styron

Pain, Suffering, Bed

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The mornings themselves were becoming bad now as I wandered
about lethargic, following my synthetic sleep, but afternoons were
still the worst, beginning at about three o'clock, when I'd feel the
horror, like some poisonous fog bank roll in upon my mind, forcing me
into bed.

William Styron

Morning, Sleep, Fog

William Styron (1990). “Darkness visible: a memoir of madness”, Random House Incorporated

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Most books, like their authors, are born to die; of only a few books can it be said that death has no dominion over them; they live, and their influence lives forever.

William Styron

Book, Reading, Forever

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Mysteriously and in ways that are totally remote from natural experience, the gray drizzle of horror induced by depression takes on the quality of physical pain.

William Styron

Depression, Pain, Suffering

William Clark Styron (2010). “Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness”, p.26, Open Road Media

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The writer's duty is to keep on writing.

William Styron

Writing, Duty

William Styron (2015). “My Generation: Collected Nonfiction”, p.417, Random House

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Writing is a form of self-flagellation.

William Styron

Writing, Self, Form

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This was not judgment day - only morning. Morning: excellent and fair.

William Styron

Morning, Judgment, Excellent

William Clark Styron (2013). “The Collected Novels: Lie Down in Darkness, Set This House on Fire, The Confessions of Nat Turner, and Sophie's Choice”, p.2059, Open Road Media

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When, in the autumn of 1947, I was fired from the first and only job I have ever held, I wanted one thing out of life: to become a writer.

William Styron

Jobs, Autumn, Firsts

William Styron (2015). “My Generation: Collected Nonfiction”, p.397, Random House

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we each devise our means of escape from the intolerable.

William Styron

Mean

William Clark Styron (2010). “A Tidewater Morning: Three Tales from Youth”, p.76, Open Road Media

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[However], the sufferer from depression has no option, and therefore finds himself, like a walking casualty of war, thrust into the most intolerable social and family situations. There he must ... present a face approximating the one associated with ordinary events and companionship. He must try to utter small talk and be responsive to questions, and knowingly nod, and frown and, God help him, even smile.

William Styron

War, Trying, Events

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In depression . . . faith in deliverance, in ultimate restoration, is absent. The pain is unrelenting, and what makes the condition intolerable is the foreknowledge that no remedy will come - - not in a day, an hour, a month, or a minute . . . It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.

William Styron

Sad, Depression, Crush

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Like Hemingway and Faulkner, but in an entirely different mode, Fitzgerald had that singular quality without which a writer is not really a writer at all, and that is a voice, a distinct and identifiable voice. This is really not the same thing as a style; a style can be emulated, a voice cannot, and the witty, rueful, elegaic voice gives his work its bright authenticity.

William Styron

Witty, Voice, Giving

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I get a fine warm feeling when I'm doing well, but that pleasure is pretty much negated by the pain of getting started each day. Let's face it, writing is hell.

William Styron

Pain, Writing, Feelings

William Styron, James L. W. West (1985). “Conversations with William Styron”, p.9, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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I felt the exultancy of a man just released from slavery and ready to set the universe on fire.

William Styron

Men, Fire, Burning

William Styron (2015). “My Generation: Collected Nonfiction”, p.397, Random House

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Further, Dr. Gold said with a straight face, the pill at optimum dosage could have the side effect of impotence. Until that moment, although I'd had some trouble with his personality, I had not thought him totally lacking in perspicacity; now I was not all sure. Putting myself in Dr. Gold's shoes, I wondered if he seriously thought that this juiceless and ravaged semi-invalid with the shuffle and the ancient wheeze woke up each morning from his Halcion sleep eager for carnal fun.

William Styron

Morning, Fun, Sleep

William Styron (2010). “Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness”, p.31, Open Road Media

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Writers ever since writing began have had problems, and the main problem narrows down to just one word - life.

William Styron

Writing, Problem, One Word

William Styron, James L. W. West (1985). “Conversations with William Styron”, p.17, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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Born: June 11, 1925
Died: November 1, 2006
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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