One of the saddest things is that the only thing that a man can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. You can't eat for eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours—all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy.

About William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner ( FAWK-nər; né Falkner; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in for Lafayette County where he spent most of his life. Winner of the...

More quotations from William Faulkner

Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

—William Faulkner

All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.

—William Faulkner

It's a shame that the only thing a man can do for eight hours a day is work. He can't eat for eight hours; he can't drink for eight hours; he can't make love for eight hours. The only thing a man can do for eight hours is work.

—William Faulkner

The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past.

—William Faulkner

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

time writing art criticism

History

22 May 2015 Added
26 Oct 2026 Wording changed

Previous wording

One of the saddest things is that the only thing that a man can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. You can't eat for eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours — all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy.