The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself
WILLIAM FAULKNERThe only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself
WILLIAM FAULKNERTomorrow night is nothing but one long sleepless wrestle with yesterday’s omissions and regrets.
WILLIAM FAULKNERLet the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut.
WILLIAM FAULKNERI’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.
WILLIAM FAULKNERMemory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.
WILLIAM FAULKNERA mule will labor ten years willingly and patiently for you, for the privilege of kicking you once.
WILLIAM FAULKNERPouring out liquor is like burning books.
WILLIAM FAULKNERGood ones don’t have time to bother with success or getting rich.
WILLIAM FAULKNERRemember, all Tolstoy ever said to describe Anna Karenina was that she was beautiful and could see in the dark like a cat. Every man has a different idea of what’s beautiful, and it’s best to take the gesture, the shadow of the branch, and let the mind create the tree.
WILLIAM FAULKNERIf people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.
WILLIAM FAULKNERBe scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid.
WILLIAM FAULKNERNothing can destroy the good writer. The only thing that can alter the good writer is death.
WILLIAM FAULKNERYou don’t love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults.
WILLIAM FAULKNERPeople need trouble – a little frustration to sharpen the spirit on, toughen it.
WILLIAM FAULKNERI think now that the young man must possess or teach himself, training himself, in infinite patience, which is to try and to try until it comes right.
WILLIAM FAULKNERThe poets are almost always wrong about the facts… That’s because they are not really interested in facts: only in truth…
WILLIAM FAULKNER