William Faulkner Quotes

It requires more than mere genius to be an author.

A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.

Real seriousness in regard to writing being one of the two absolute necessities. The other, unfortunately, is talent.

I know well enough that very few people who are supposedly interested in writing are interested in writing well. They are interested in publishing something, and if possible in making a "killing." They are interested in being a writer not in writing. . . If this is what you are interested in, I am not going to be much use to you.

It is the glory and merit of some men to write well and of others not to write at all.

If you asked someone, 'Can you play the violin?' and he says, 'I don't know, I have not tried, perhaps I can,' you laugh at him. Whereas about writing, people always say: 'I don't know, I have not tried,' as though one had only to try and one would become a writer.

Writing is the starting point from which all goodness (and crappiness) flows.

You like to write. It's the single most important quality for someone who wants to be a writer. But not in itself enough.

The balls do not make a writer.

There are two kinds of writers, those who are and those who aren't. With the first, content and form belong together like soul and body; with the second, they match each other like body and clothes.

Often with good sentiments we produce bad literature.

I'm very comfortable writing.

The number of people who can copulate properly may be few; the number who can write well are infinitely fewer.

How well I would write if I were not here!

in writing, sex doesn't matter; it's the writing that matters.

Good writers hate bad writing but hating bad writing doesn’t make you good. Writing badly does.

By writing much, one learns to write well.

Most thinkers write badly, because they communicate not only their thoughts, but also the thinking of them.

Write quickly and you will never write well; write well, and you will soon write quickly.

I say again, if I cannot draw a horse, I will not write THIS IS A HORSE under what I foolishly meant for one.

To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task for men who know good writing from bad. They do it, but instinctively draw out of harm's way anything precious that might be damaged by contact with the public, or anything sharp that might irritate its skin.

I wish to God I knew as much about writing as I did when I was 19. I was absolutely certain about most things then. Also, I suspect, more accurate.

I was a much better writer than I was an athlete. My college coach told me flat out, he said, "Deford, you write basketball better than you play it."

When I'm writing something, if there's a part that's good for me, then I'll play it. Otherwise, I don't. And I notice that there are less and less parts for me in my own writing.