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William Faulkner

William Faulkner Quotes

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Famous William Faulkner Quotes

“He [the writer] must, teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed - love and honor and pity and compassion and sacrifice. See Poets & Writers”

HeartStoriesForgetRoomsCompassionTeachForeverSacrificeTeachingPoetHonorAll ThingsUniversalLeavingPityDoomedLackingForget ItWorkshopsEphemeralUniversal TruthLove And Honor
Author:William Faulkner
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“I, the dreamer clinging yet to the dream as the patient clings to the last thin unbearable ecstatic instant of agony in order to sharpen the savor of the pain's surcease, waking into the reality, the more than reality, not to the unchanged and unaltered old time but into a time altered to fit the dream which, conjunctive with the dreamer, becomes immolated and apotheosized”

DreamRealityPainLastsOrderFitPatientInstantWakingDreamerAgonyUnbearableAlteredClingingEcstaticOld Time
Book:Absalom, Absalom!
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“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.”

KnowsTryingArtDoneDreamArtistCan DoResponsibilityWonderHigherCreaturesBusyDrivenStealingBotherDemonToo BusyPredecessorsWork Done
Author:William Faulkner
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“The air brightened, the running shadow patches were now the obverse, and it seemed to him that the fact that the day was clearing was another cunning stroke on the part of the foe, the fresh battle toward which he was carrying ancient wounds.”

FactsRunningLiteratureAirBattleShadowAncientWoundsStrokesFoeCunningPatchesClearing
Book:The Sound and the Fury (Third International Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)
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“Don't bother just to be better than others. Try to be better than yourself.”

InspirationalTryingCharacterDreamRunningSelf ImprovementSelf AwarenessExcellenceTrackCriminalsImprovementBotherGet BetterRunnersCriminal MindInspirational RunningPredecessorsMotivational RunningDoing Your BestDreams You HaveTrack And FieldChange YourselfKeep RunningCross Country RunningPotential For GreatnessInspirational RunnerTry Your BestTrack RunningImproving YourselfRunning TrackMotivational Cross Country RunningTrack RunnersDreams And AspirationsCross Country MotivationalInspirational TrackRunning FunnyBest Criminal MindsFunny RunningBetter YourselfTrack TeamThings Are Getting Better
Author:William Faulkner
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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.”

PeopleKnowsMenWorldChildrenAgeAbleEvilStrongMoralEnvironmentDangerousCapacityTwentiesStrongerPressureAgingFortyAnguishSympathetic
Author:William Faulkner
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