A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid. William Faulkner More Quotes by William Faulkner More Quotes From William Faulkner Who gathers the withered rose? William Faulkner witheredrose Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. An artist is a creature driven by demons. He don't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done. The writer's only responsibility is to his art. William Faulkner responsibilitydreamart As long as I live under the capitalistic system I expect to have my life influenced by the demands of moneyed people. But I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp. This, sir, is my resignation. William Faulkner twolongpeople My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky. William Faulkner scotch-whiskydrinkingwriting War and drink are the two things man is never too poor to buy. William Faulkner menwarfunny a fellow is more afraid of the trouble he might have than he ever is of the trouble he's already got. He'll cling to trouble he's used to before he'll risk a change. Yes. A man will talk about how he'd like to escape from living folks. But it's the dead folks that do him the damage. It's the dead ones that lay quiet in one place and dont try to hold him, that he cant escape from. William Faulkner risktryingmen Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life. William Faulkner timelifelong The quality an artist must have is objectivity in judging his work, plus the honesty and courage not to kid himself about it. William Faulkner honestyartistkids A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction. William Faulkner telling-the-truthwritingfiction A man. All men. He will pass up a hundred chances to do good for one chance to meddle where meddling is not wanted. He will overlook and fail to see chances, opportunities, for riches and fame and welldoing, and even sometimes for evil. But he won't fail to see a chance to meddle. William Faulkner evilopportunitymen ...I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire...I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. 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. William Faulkner victorygivingmen Pouring out liquor is like burning books. William Faulkner pouringburningbook 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. William Faulkner whitepeoplethinking Time is a fluid condition which has no existence except in the momentary avatars of individual people. There is no such thing as was - only is. William Faulkner individualtimepeople Like a fellow running from or toward a gun ain't got time to worry whether the word for what he is doing is courage or cowardice. William Faulkner gunworryrunning The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with. William Faulkner artistdreamwriting She forced herself once more to think of nothing, to keep her consciousness immersed, as a little dog that one keeps under water until he has stopped struggling William Faulkner struggledogthinking Everyone in the South has no time for reading because they are all too busy writing. William Faulkner readingbusywriting She was the captain of her soul William Faulkner captainssoul No battle is ever won ... victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. William Faulkner foolvictorybattle
