When I have one martini, I feel bigger, wiser, taller. When I have a second, I feel superlative. When I have more, there's no holding me.
William FaulknerRead
He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the author prefers simplicity in language to enhance understanding.
William Faulkner emphasizes the importance of accessibility in writing. He believes that a writer should use language that is easy for readers to grasp, avoiding complex vocabulary that may lead to confusion or necessitate a dictionary. This reflects a broader belief in clear communication, where the goal is to connect with readers effectively without alienating them through obscure language.
Themes
SimplicityLanguageCommunicationWritingAccessibility
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom setting, this quote could be used to encourage students to express their ideas clearly.
More from William Faulkner
All quotes βI feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.
William FaulknerRead
When grown people speak of the innocence of children, they dont really know what they mean. Pressed, they will go a step further and say, Well, ignorance then. The child is neither. There is no crime which a boy of eleven had not envisaged long ago. His only innocence is, he may not be old enough to desire the fruits of it...his ignorance is, he does not know how to commit it...
William FaulknerRead
Maybe times are never strange to women: it is just one continuous monotonous thing full of the repeated follies of their menfolks.
William FaulknerRead
He had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long time. I knew that that word was like the others: just a shape to fill a lack; that when the right time came, you wouldn't need a word for that any more than for pride or fear....One day I was talking to Cora. She prayed for me because she believed I was blind to sin, wanting me to kneel and pray too, because people to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.
William FaulknerRead
Ever since then I have believed that God is not only a gentleman and a sport; he is a Kentuckian too.
William FaulknerRead
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