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William Faulkner Quotes about Art

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The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.

William Faulkner
Life, Art, Moving
1956 Interview in Paris Review, Spring.

An artist is a creature driven by demons. He don't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why.

William Faulkner
Inspiring, Art, Wonder
"William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. An artist is a creature driven by demons. He don't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done. The writer's only responsibility is to his art.

William Faulkner
Dream, Art, Responsibility
"William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

Hollywood is a place where a man can get stabbed in the back while climbing a ladder.

William Faulkner
Art, Men, Climbing
Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

Good art can come out of thieves, bootleggers, or horse swipes. People really are afraid to find out just how much hardship and poverty they can stand. They are afraid to find out how tough they are. Nothing can destroy the good writer. The only thing that can alter the good writer is death. Good ones don't have time to bother with success or getting rich. Success is feminine and like a woman; if you cringe before her, she will override you. So the way to treat her is to show her the back of your hand. Then maybe she will do the crawling.

William Faulkner
Art, Horse, Hands
1956 Interview in Paris Review, Spring.

The writer's only responsibility is to his art...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
Mother, Art, Responsibility
Quoted in Paris Review, Spring 1956

To me, all human behavior is unpredictable and, considering man's frailty... and... the ramshackle universe he functions in, it's... all irrational.

William Faulkner
Art, Men, Hollywood

Henry James was one of the nicest old ladies I ever met.

William Faulkner
Art, History, Entertainment

The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. 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
Mother, Dream, Art
In Paris Review Spring 1956, p. 30

The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time to read reviews.

William Faulkner
Art, Powerful, Writing
"William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

The artist is of no importance. Only what he creates is important, since there is nothing new to be said. Shakespeare, Balzac, Homer have all written about the same things, and if they had lived one thousand or two thousand years longer, the publishers wouldn't have needed anyone since.

William Faulkner
Art, Creativity, Years
"William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12". Interview with Jean Stein, www.theparisreview.org. 1956.

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means.

William Faulkner
Art, Philosophy, Mean
George G. Stewart, Robert W. Hamblin, William Faulkner (2009). “Yoknapatawpha, images and voices: a photographic study of Faulkner's County, with passages from classic William Faulkner texts”, Univ of South Carolina Pr

The writer in America isn't part of the culture of this country. He's like a fine dog. People like him around, but he's of no use.

William Faulkner
Country, Dog, Art
William Faulkner, Paul Gardner, Eric Mottram (1976). “A Faulkner perspective: a companion-guide to the limited first edition of the Selected letters of William Faulkner”

The writer's only responsibility is to his art.

William Faulkner
Art, Responsibility
Quoted in Paris Review, Spring 1956

I decline to accept the end of man.

William Faulkner
Art, Philosophy, Men
Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, 10 Dec. 1950

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