William Styron

I try to get a feeling of what's going on in the story before I put it down on paper, but actually…

— William Styron

The stigma of self-inflicted death is for some people a hateful blot that demands erasure at all costs.

— William Styron

“More or less the same can be said for Art Therapy, which is organized infantilism. Our class was run by a delirious…

— William Styron

“When I was first aware that I had been laid low by the disease, I felt a need, among other things, to…

— William Styron

The madness of depression is, generally speaking, the antithesis of violence. It is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk. Soon…

— William Styron

“To make matters worse, I was out of a job and had very little money and was self-exiled to Flatbush—like others of…

— William Styron

“At any rate, during the few hours when the depressive state itself eased off long enough to permit the luxury of concentration,…

— William Styron

For a person whose sole burning ambition is to write - like myself - college is useless beyond the Sophomore year.

— William Styron

Which is worse, past or future? Neither. I will fold up my mind like a leaf and drift on this stream over…

— William Styron

The mornings themselves were becoming bad now as I wandered about lethargic, following my synthetic sleep, but afternoons were still the worst,…

— William Styron

“One of the things I cannnot grasp, though I have often written about them, trying to get them into some kind of…

— William Styron

Depression is a disorder of mood, so mysteriously painful and elusive in the way it becomes known to the self -- to…

— William Styron

“I get a fine warm feeling when I'm doing well, but that pleasure is pretty much negated by the pain of getting…

— William Styron

Mysteriously and in ways that are totally remote from natural experience, the gray drizzle of horror induced by depression takes on the…

— William Styron

Depression...so mysteriously painful and elusive...

— William Styron

The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if…

— William Styron

The pain is unrelenting; one does not abandon, even briefly, one's bed of nails, but is attached to it wherever one goes.

— William Styron

“it has to be emphasized that if the pain were readily describable most of the countless sufferers from this ancient affliction would…

— William Styron

The writer's duty is to keep on writing.

— William Styron

“Depression is a disorder of mood, so mysteriously painful and elusive in the way it becomes known to the self--to the mediating…

— William Styron

“I never said I hated the Marine Corps! I only said it was no place for a sensitive, civilized, self-respecting human being.”

— William Styron

“A cat loped across my gaze with a squint-eyed, piratical look, and a suave grin.”

— William Styron

A great book should leave you with many experiences.

— William Styron

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.

— William Styron

“I hate this type of unearned unhappiness.”

— William Styron