The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency, security, happiness, all, to get the book written. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the Ode on a Grecian Urn is worth any number of old ladies.

William Faulkner

William Faulkner

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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

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

— William Faulkner

ashamedhonestyyourself

In Europe, being an artist is a form of behavior; in America, it's an excuse for a form of behavior.

— William Faulkner

In Europe, being an artist is a form of behavior; in America, being an artist is an excuse for a form of behavior.

— William Faulkner