William Faulkner

The reason for living is to get ready to stay dead a long time.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it's rather ugly, but it's an honest one.

The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

The artist has no time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to tell him how to paint pictures. He has a dream. He has to get it down.

It's not what you are, it's what you do.

The past is not even past.

The only thing that can save the world is the courage of man.

If I had not been a writer, I would have been a farmer.

The writer's job is to tell the truth.

Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.

The best of all possible worlds, and it's a good one.

I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail.

The only thing that matters is the work.

The human heart in conflict with itself is the only thing worth writing about.

It is 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.

The writer's job is to tell the story, to tell it as truly as he can, and to let the chips fall where they may.

The artist is a man who is ridden by demons. He cannot rest until he has exorcised them.

The past is not dead, it is not even past.