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
People to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The understanding of sin and salvation goes beyond mere words; it reflects deeper values and beliefs.
In this quote, Faulkner suggests that for those who view sin as merely a linguistic concept, the concept of salvation similarly loses its significance and becomes trivialized. It emphasizes the importance of truly understanding and embodying moral values rather than discussing them superficially.
Themes
SinSalvationWordsMeaningBeliefs
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about ethics, this quote can illustrate the need for deeper understanding beyond superficial dialogue.
More from William Faulkner
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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...
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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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