William Faulkner Quotes - Page 11

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• 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.

  William Faulkner

  Two, Months, Three

  "William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

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• 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 he must 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.

  William Faulkner

  Mother, Dream, Art

  In Paris Review Spring 1956, p. 30

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• The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time to read reviews.

  William Faulkner

  Art, Powerful, Writing

  "William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

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• If I were reincarnated, I'd want to come back a buzzard. Nothing hates him or envies him or wants him or needs him. He is never bothered or in danger, and he can eat anything.

  William Faulkner

  Hate, Envy, Bird

  1956 Interview in Paris Review, Spring.

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• I'm inclined to think that a military background wouldn't hurt anyone.

  William Faulkner

  Hurt, Military, Thinking

  William Faulkner, Joseph L. Fant, Robert Paul Ashley (1964). “Faulkner at West Point”, p.59, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• People between twenty and forty are not sympathetic. The child has the capacity to do but it can't know. It only knows when it is no longer able to do -after forty. Between twenty and forty the will of the child to do gets stronger, more dangerous, but it has not begun to learn to know yet. Since his capacity to do is forced into channels of evil through environment and pressures, man is strong before he is moral. The world's anguish is caused by people between twenty and forty.

  William Faulkner

  Strong, Children, Men

  1956 Interview in Paris Review, Spring.

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• I learned little save that most of the deeds, good and bad both, incurring opprobrium or plaudits or reward either, within the scope of man's abilities, had already been performed and were to be learned about only from books.

  William Faulkner

  Book, Reading, Men

  William Faulkner, Noel Polk (1987). “Absalom, Absalom!, typescript setting copy and miscellaneous material”, Facsimiles-Garl

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• All of us have failed to match our dream of perfection. I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible. If I could write all my work again, I'm convinced I could do it better. This is the healthiest condition for an artist. That's why he keeps working, trying again: he believes each time that this time he will do it, bring it off. Of course he won't.

  William Faulkner

  Dream, Believe, Writing

  1956 On his generation of writers. Interview in Paris Review, Spring.

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• Setting an example for your children takes all the fun out of middle age Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable do nothing.

  William Faulkner

  Fun, Children, People

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• Pointless. . . . Like giving caviar to an elephant.

  William Faulkner

  Elephants, Giving, Caviar

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• There is something about jumping a horse over a fence, something that makes you feel good. Perhaps it's the risk, the gamble. In any event it's a thing I need.

  William Faulkner

  Horse, Jumping, Feel Good

  "Visit to Two-Finger Typist". LIFE magazine, July 14, 1961.

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• You must always know the past, for there is no real Was, there is only Is.

  William Faulkner

  Real, Past, History

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• I am trying to say it all in one sentence, between one cap and one period.

  William Faulkner

  Trying, Caps, Periods

  William Faulkner, Joseph Leo Blotner (1978). “Selected letters of William Faulkner”, Vintage

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• My, my. A body does get around.

  William Faulkner

  Doe, Body

  Jack L. Capps, William Faulkner (1979). “Light in August: a concordance to the novel”

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• The artists who want to be writers, read the reviews; the artists who want to write, don't.

  William Faulkner

  Writing, Artist, Editors

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• The artist is of no importance. Only what he creates is important, since there is nothing new to be said. Shakespeare, Balzac, Homer have all written about the same things, and if they had lived one thousand or two thousand years longer, the publishers wouldn't have needed anyone since.

  William Faulkner

  Art, Creativity, Years

  "William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

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• Our freedom must be buttressed by a homogeny equally and unchallengeably free, no matter what color they are, so that all the other inimical forces everywhere -- systems political or religious or racial or national -- will not just respect us because we practice freedom, they will fear us because we do.

  William Faulkner

  Religious, Color, Practice

  William Faulkner (2011). “Essays, Speeches & Public Letters”, p.151, Modern Library

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• It is assumed that anyone who makes a million dollars has a unique gift, though he might have made it off some useless gadget.

  William Faulkner

  Unique, Dollars, Gadgets

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• This does not matter. This is not anything yet. It all depends on what you do with it, afterward.

  William Faulkner

  Doe, Matter, Depends

  William Faulkner (1985). “Novels, 1930-1935”, Library of America

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• The scattered tea goes with the leaves and every day a sunset dies.

  William Faulkner

  Sunset, Tea, Dies

  William Faulkner (1994). “Novels 1942-1954”

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• The writer in America isn't part of the culture of this country. He's like a fine dog. People like him around, but he's of no use.

  William Faulkner

  Country, Dog, Art

  William Faulkner, Paul Gardner, Eric Mottram (1976). “A Faulkner perspective: a companion-guide to the limited first edition of the Selected letters of William Faulkner”

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• ...and you don't even have to sleep alone, you don't even have to sleep at all; and so, all you have to do is show the stick to the dog now and then and say, 'Thank God for nothing.'

  William Faulkner

  Dog, Sleep, Thank God

  "Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner".

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• I believe in God, God. God, I believe in God.

  William Faulkner

  Believe, I Believe, Believe In God

  William Faulkner (1946). “The Sound and the Fury: And As I Lay Dying”, New York : The Modern library

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• I'm bad and I'm going to hell, and I don't care. I'd rather be in hell than anywhere where you are.

  William Faulkner

  Care, Hell, Where You Are

  William Faulkner (2013). “The Sound And The Fury”, p.160, Random House

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• Just when do men that have different blood in them stop hating one another?

  William Faulkner

  Hate, Men, Blood

  William Faulkner (1985). “Novels, 1930-1935”, Library of America

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