891 Quotes by William Faulkner

Yes, urge I do: warped chrysalis of what blind perfect seed: for who shall say what gnarled forgotten root might not bloom yet with some globed concentrate more globed and concentrate and heady-perfect because the neglected root was planted warped and lay not dead but merely slept forgot?

Innocence is innocent not because it rejects but because it accepts; is innocent not because it is impervious and invulnerable to everything, but because it is capable of accepting anything and still remaining innocent; innocent because it foreknows all and therefore doesn’t have to fear and be afraid.

On the instant when we come to realize that tragedy is second-hand.

It used to be I thought of death as a man something like Grandfather a friend of his a kind of private and particular friend like we used to think of Grandfather’s desk not to touch it not even to talk loud in the room where it was.

When my horse is running good, I don’t stop to give him sugar.

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

He was working fast, yet thinking went slow enough. He knew why now. He knew now that thinking went slow and smooth with calculation, as oil is spread slowly upon a surface above a brewing storm.

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 terrible to be young. It’s terrible. Terrible.