http://www.wordnik.com/lists/prosie-william-faulkner-s-nobel-prize-speech.xml December 10, 1950 <br /> <br />One of my all-time favorite pieces of prose. <br /> <br />I feel that this <a href="/words/award">award</a> was not made to me as a man, but to my work--a life's work in the <a href="/words/agony">agony</a> and sweat of the human <a href="/words/spirit">spirit</a>, not for <a href="/words/glory">glory</a> and least of all for <a href="/words/profit">profit</a>, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in <a href="/words/trust">trust</a>. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and <a href="/words/significance">significance</a> of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the <a href="/words/acclaim">acclaim</a> too, by using this moment as a <a href="/words/pinnacle">pinnacle</a> from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and <a href="/words/travail">travail</a>, among whom is already that one who will some day stand where I am standing. <br /> <br />Our <a href="/words/tragedy ">tragedy </a>today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only one <a href="/words/question">question</a>: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human <a href="/words/heart">heart</a> in <a href="/words/conflict">conflict</a> with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the <a href="/words/basest">basest</a> of all things is to be afraid: and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his <a href="/words/workshop">workshop</a> for anything but the old <a href="/words/verities">verities</a> and truths of the heart, the <a href="/words/universal">universal</a> truths lacking which any story is <a href="/words/ephemeral">ephemeral</a> and doomed--love and <a href="/words/honor">honor</a> and pity and pride and <a href="/words/compassion">compassion</a> and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a <a href="/words/curse">curse</a>. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of <a href="/words/value">value</a>, and victories without hope and worst of all, without <a href="/words/pity">pity</a> or compassion. His griefs <a href="/words/grieve">grieve</a> on no <a href="/words/universal">universal</a> bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands. <br /> <br />Until he learns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I <a href="/words/decline">decline</a> to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is <a href="/words/immortal">immortal</a> because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has <a href="/words/clanged">clanged</a> and faded from the last <a href="/words/worthless">worthless</a> rock hanging <a href="/words/tideless">tideless</a> in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny <a href="/words/inexhaustible">inexhaustible</a> voice, still talking. I <a href="/words/refuse">refuse</a> to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will <a href="/words/prevail">prevail</a>. He is <a href="/words/immortal">immortal</a>, not because he alone among creatures has an <a href="/words/inexhaustible">inexhaustible</a> voice, but because he has a <a href="/words/soul">soul</a>, a spirit capable of compassion and <a href="/words/sacrifice">sacrifice</a> and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, <a href="/words/duty">duty</a> is to write about these things. It is his <a href="/words/privilege">privilege</a> to help man endure by <a href="/words/lifting">lifting</a> his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's <a href="/words/voice">voice</a> need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the <a href="/words/pillars">pillars</a> to help him endure and prevail. http://www.wordnik.com http://www.wordnik.com/words/award Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:57 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/award http://www.wordnik.com/words/agony Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:55 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/agony http://www.wordnik.com/words/spirit Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:53 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/spirit http://www.wordnik.com/words/glory Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:51 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/glory http://www.wordnik.com/words/profit Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:38 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/profit http://www.wordnik.com/words/trust Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:36 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/trust http://www.wordnik.com/words/significance Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:34 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/significance http://www.wordnik.com/words/acclaim Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:10 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/acclaim http://www.wordnik.com/words/pinnacle Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:05 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/pinnacle http://www.wordnik.com/words/travail Thu, 31 May 2007 21:29:02 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/travail http://www.wordnik.com/words/tragedy Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:54 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/tragedy http://www.wordnik.com/words/question Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:52 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/question http://www.wordnik.com/words/heart Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:43 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/heart http://www.wordnik.com/words/conflict Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:41 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/conflict http://www.wordnik.com/words/basest Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:36 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/basest http://www.wordnik.com/words/workshop Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:34 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/workshop http://www.wordnik.com/words/verities Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:29 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/verities http://www.wordnik.com/words/ephemeral Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:23 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/ephemeral http://www.wordnik.com/words/honor Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:20 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/honor http://www.wordnik.com/words/compassion Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:18 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/compassion http://www.wordnik.com/words/curse Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:16 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/curse http://www.wordnik.com/words/value Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:13 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/value http://www.wordnik.com/words/pity Thu, 31 May 2007 21:28:00 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/pity http://www.wordnik.com/words/grieve Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:57 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/grieve http://www.wordnik.com/words/universal Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:54 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/universal http://www.wordnik.com/words/decline Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:51 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/decline http://www.wordnik.com/words/clanged Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:39 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/clanged http://www.wordnik.com/words/worthless Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:36 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/worthless http://www.wordnik.com/words/tideless Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:34 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/tideless http://www.wordnik.com/words/refuse Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:22 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/refuse http://www.wordnik.com/words/prevail Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:19 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/prevail http://www.wordnik.com/words/immortal Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:16 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/immortal http://www.wordnik.com/words/inexhaustible Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:13 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/inexhaustible http://www.wordnik.com/words/soul Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:10 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/soul http://www.wordnik.com/words/sacrifice Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:06 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/sacrifice http://www.wordnik.com/words/duty Thu, 31 May 2007 21:27:02 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/duty http://www.wordnik.com/words/privilege Thu, 31 May 2007 21:26:58 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/privilege http://www.wordnik.com/words/lifting Thu, 31 May 2007 21:26:54 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/lifting http://www.wordnik.com/words/voice Thu, 31 May 2007 21:26:51 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/voice http://www.wordnik.com/words/pillars Thu, 31 May 2007 21:26:50 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/pillars