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100 Profound William Faulkner Quotes You Need To Know

Famous As: Regarded as One of the Most Significant American Writers of All Time
Born On: September 25, 1897
Died On: July 6, 1962
Born In: New Albany, Mississippi, United States
Died At Age: 64

One of the most celebrated American authors, William Faulkner was a Nobel Prize winning novelist. Faulkner, who's known for his exemplary contribution to Southern literature, wrote challenging prose and write-ups. Despite tough competition by Fitzgerald and Hemingway, this Mississippi born writer created a new identity for himself through the apocryphal 'Yoknapatawpha County'. Based on the legend of Lafayette County, Faulkner created Yoknapatawpha for fifty of his novels except 'A Fable', 'Soldier's Pay', 'The Wild Palms' and 'Pylon'. Faulkner highlighted major controversial matters related to class, race, sex and social ideologies in his best works-- 'The Sound and the Fury', 'Sanctuary', 'As I Lay Dying''Light in August', 'The Reivers' and 'A Rose for Emily'. A thorough humanitarian as he was, he donated a part of his Nobel money to Oxford bank for funding education of African-American teachers and creating the Faulkner Award for Fiction writing. This two-times Pulitzer and U.S. National Prize winner received a special mention in acceptance speech delivered by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The US postal services issued an exclusive 22-cent postal stamp in his honor, for he served as a postmaster at Mississippi University.

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Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth.

Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth.

William Faulkner
You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.

You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.

William Faulkner
We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.

William Faulkner
Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

William Faulkner
The past is never dead. It's not even past.

The past is never dead. It's not even past.

William Faulkner
Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.

Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.

William Faulkner
In writing, you must kill all your darlings.

In writing, you must kill all your darlings.

William Faulkner
The saddest thing about love, Joe, is that not only the love cannot last forever, but even the heartbreak is soon forgotten.

The saddest thing about love, Joe, is that not only the love cannot last forever, but even the heartbreak is soon forgotten.

William Faulkner
Perhaps they were right putting love into books. Perhaps it could not live anywhere else.

Perhaps they were right putting love into books. Perhaps it could not live anywhere else.

William Faulkner
Talk, talk, talk: the utter and heartbreaking stupidity of words.

Talk, talk, talk: the utter and heartbreaking stupidity of words.

William Faulkner
The next time you try to seduce anyone, don't do it with talk, with words. Women know more about words than men ever will. And they know how little they can ever possibly mean.

The next time you try to seduce anyone, don't do it with talk, with words. Women know more about words than men ever will. And they know how little they can ever possibly mean.

William Faulkner
How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.

How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.

William Faulkner
I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.

I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.

William Faulkner
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.

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
Don't be 'a writer'. Be writing.

Don't be 'a writer'. Be writing.

William Faulkner
Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.

Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.

William Faulkner
Wonder. Go on and wonder.

Wonder. Go on and wonder.

William Faulkner
If a story is in you, it has to come out.

If a story is in you, it has to come out.

William Faulkner
Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely.

Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely.

William Faulkner
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.

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
You can't beat women anyhow and that if you are wise or dislike trouble and uproar you don't even try to.

You can't beat women anyhow and that if you are wise or dislike trouble and uproar you don't even try to.

William Faulkner
You don’t love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults.

You don’t love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults.

William Faulkner
Pouring out liquor is like burning books.

Pouring out liquor is like burning books.

William Faulkner
Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say.

Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say.

William Faulkner
Unless you're ashamed of yourself now and then, you're not honest

Unless you're ashamed of yourself now and then, you're not honest

William Faulkner
My mother is a fish.

My mother is a fish.

William Faulkner
Most men are a little better than their circumstances give them a chance to be.

Most men are a little better than their circumstances give them a chance to be.

William Faulkner
It's not when you realise that nothing can help you - religion, pride, anything - it's when you realise that you don't need any aid.

It's not when you realise that nothing can help you - religion, pride, anything - it's when you realise that you don't need any aid.

William Faulkner
A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid.

A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid.

William Faulkner
A man is the sum of his misfortunes. One day you'd think misfortune would get tired but then time is your misfortune

A man is the sum of his misfortunes. One day you'd think misfortune would get tired but then time is your misfortune

William Faulkner