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 pride and compassion and sacrifice.

William Faulkner

William Faulkner

Related Quotes

The sounding jargon of the schools.

— William Cowper

Seek to delight, that they may mend mankind. And, while they captivate, inform the mind.

— William Cowper

Effective teaching may be the hardest job there is.

— William Glasser

It's a shame that the only thing a man can do for eight hours a day is work. He can't eat for eight hours; he can't drink for eight hours; he can't make love for eight hours. The only thing a man can do for eight hours is work.

— William Faulkner

I'm a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can't and then tries the short story which is the most demanding form after poetry. And failing at that, only then does he take up novel writing.

— William Faulkner