--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view…" description: "\"I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were before but who we are now.\" — Ken Burns" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/ken-burns-9897_history_i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-t_2058460.jpg" --- # I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is… ![“I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were before but who we are now.” quote by Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/ken-burns-9897_history_i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-t_2058460.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/ken-burns-9897_history_i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-t_2058460.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/ken-burns-9897_history_i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-t_2058460.jpg) > “I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were before but who we are now.” [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. History shapes identity, linking past events to present selves and future possibilities. **In simple terms:** History defines who we are today. Key Takeaway Reflect on how past informs present. Themes identity history self‑knowledge Mood thoughtful reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - personal reflection - education - policy making - cultural analysis Key Concepts Narrative continuity collective memory Questions to Reflect On - How does your personal past influence your present choices? - What aspects of history feel most relevant to you now? A Different Perspective History can be selective and biased, limiting a full picture. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faulkner/) [Faulkner View](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faulkner-view-3914565/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Just](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-just/) [View History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/view-history-1165163/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/william-faulkner/) ## Related quotes > [“How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home. —William Faulkner”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nic-pizzolatto/how-often-have-i-lain-beneath-rain-on-a-strange-roof-thinking-of-home/) [Nic Pizzolatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nic-pizzolatto/) > [“I’d be happy to give special treatment to a dedicated school teacher, or even someone like William Faulkner if he was still alive, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffanie-debartolo/i-d-be-happy-to-give-special-treatment-to-a-dedicated-school-teacher/) [Tiffanie DeBartolo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffanie-debartolo/) > [“The past is never dead. It’s not even past. —William Faulkner”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-tyler/the-past-is-never-dead-it-s-not-even-past-william-faulkner/) [Stephanie Tyler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-tyler/) > [“Literature is a struggle over the nature of reality. --Richard Wright to William Faulkner”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-wright/literature-is-a-struggle-over-the-nature-of-reality-richard-wright-to/) [Richard Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-wright/) > [“I believe that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-believe-that-when-the-last-ding-dong-of-doom-has-clanged-and-faded/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“BÔNG HỒNG CHO EMILY WILLIAM  FAULKNER (NOBEL 1949)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/bong-hong-cho-emily-william-faulkner-nobel-1949/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm not trying to emulate William Faulkner. I never said I was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/i-m-not-trying-to-emulate-william-faulkner-i-never-said-i-was/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [Toni Morrison has a habit, perhaps traceable to the pernicious influence of William Faulkner, of plunging into the narrative before the reader has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/toni-morrison-has-a-habit-perhaps-traceable-to-the-pernicious/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [ I wrote a paper \[in school\] on \[William\] Faulkner and no one could tell what the sentences meant. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-crook/i-wrote-a-paper-in-school-on-william-faulkner-and-no-one-could-tell/) [Elizabeth Crook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-crook/) > [I can't change overnight into a serious literary author. You can't compare apples to oranges. William Faulkner was a great literary genius. I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-grisham/i-can-t-change-overnight-into-a-serious-literary-author-you-can-t/) [John Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-grisham/) > [ “I think that \[William\] Faulkner and I each had to escape certain particulars of our lives, and we found salvation through words. I understand… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tennessee-williams/i-think-that-william-faulkner-and-i-each-had-to-escape-certain/) [Tennessee Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tennessee-williams/) > [I'd love to have William Faulkner, Beethoven and Bach over. I want to find out what makes those guys tick!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/candy-crowley/i-d-love-to-have-william-faulkner-beethoven-and-bach-over-i-want-to/) [Candy Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/candy-crowley/) > [I stopped reading William Faulkner because it's hard work. I want to read a good writer, but I also want to read something where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-grisham/i-stopped-reading-william-faulkner-because-it-s-hard-work-i-want-to/) [John Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-grisham/) > [A favorite science fiction writer of mine is William Faulkner! It was an idea that came to me once, years ago, and I've never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reed/a-favorite-science-fiction-writer-of-mine-is-william-faulkner-it-was/) [Robert Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-reed/) > [I wanted to make comics that get at feelings that connect to the deepest moments of our lives, reading Tolstoy, Flaubert, Flannery O'Connor, Herman…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-ware/i-wanted-to-make-comics-that-get-at-feelings-that-connect-to-the/) [Chris Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-ware/) ## More by Ken Burns > [Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/good-history-is-a-question-of-survival-without-any-past-we-will/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [Write: write letters. Keep journals. Besides your children, there is no surer way of achieving immortality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/write-write-letters-keep-journals-besides-your-children-there-is-no/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of Jazz.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/by-its-very-nature-no-one-person-can-ever-be-the-center-of-jazz/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/the-genius-of-our-country-is-improvisation-and-jazz-reflects-that-it/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [The reason why you do history, and particularly why you do war, is that you want to make sure that in the next war,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/the-reason-why-you-do-history-and-particularly-why-you-do-war-is-that/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of them I've asked, 'Who are we as Americans?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/in-a-sense-i-ve-made-the-same-film-over-and-over-again-in-all-of-them/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/i-think-we-too-often-make-choices-based-on-the-safety-of-cynicism-and/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to 20th century music (I did not say jazz) what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/louis-armstrong-is-quite-simply-the-most-important-person-in-american/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [People tend to forget that the word "history" contains the word "story".](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/people-tend-to-forget-that-the-word-history-contains-the-word-story/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [History isn't really about the past - settling old scores. It's about defining the present and who we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/history-isn-t-really-about-the-past-settling-old-scores-it-s-about/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [We strain to listen to the ghosts and echoes of our inexpressibly wise past, and we have an obligation to maintain these places, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/we-strain-to-listen-to-the-ghosts-and-echoes-of-our-inexpressibly/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/it-follows-the-seasons-beginning-each-year-with-the-fond-expectancy/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [“Jackie Robinson stole home and he's safe."...Nobody could hurt him again. He wouldn't hear the name-calling. He would only hear the cheers and somehow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/jackie-robinson-stole-home-and-he-s-safe-nobody-could-hurt-him-again/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [I can understand why some of these drummers and bass players become cult figures with all of their equipment and the incredible amount of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/i-can-understand-why-some-of-these-drummers-and-bass-players-become/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) > [You know, you meet some people, and do a lot of interviews, and you come across a Buck O'Neill and you know you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/you-know-you-meet-some-people-and-do-a-lot-of-interviews-and-you-come/) [Ken Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) [Explore all 69 Ken Burns quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/) ## More Faulkner quotes > [“Do you read them? Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald?" "Only if I have to. I try to avoid old dead white men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-grisham/do-you-read-them-faulkner-hemingway-fitzgerald-only-if-i-have-to-i/) [John Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-grisham/) > [I don't want to turn 50 and say, 'Gosh, I wish I'd lived in that part of the world for a time. I wish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-trotter/i-don-t-want-to-turn-50-and-say-gosh-i-wish-i-d-lived-in-that-part-of/) [Charlie Trotter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-trotter/) > [I was writing novels in high school and apprenticed myself in a way both to Faulkner and to Hemingway.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/i-was-writing-novels-in-high-school-and-apprenticed-myself-in-a-way/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [“The only thing that matters, as Faulkner once put it, is the human heart in conflict with itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/the-only-thing-that-matters-as-faulkner-once-put-it-is-the-human/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [I have more to say than Hemingway, and God knows, I say it better than Faulkner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/i-have-more-to-say-than-hemingway-and-god-knows-i-say-it-better-than/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [Faulkner is a writer who has had much to do with my soul, but Hemingway is the one who had the most to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/faulkner-is-a-writer-who-has-had-much-to-do-with-my-soul-but/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [“I am not religious, I reckon. But peace is in my heart: I know it is.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/i-am-not-religious-i-reckon-but-peace-is-in-my-heart-i-know-it-is/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [“I knew Faulkner very well. He was a great friend of mine. Well, as much as you could be a friend of his, unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/truman-capote/i-knew-faulkner-very-well-he-was-a-great-friend-of-mine-well-as-much/) [Truman Capote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/truman-capote/) > [Faulkner was almost oriental. I never got into Faulkner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-t-hall/faulkner-was-almost-oriental-i-never-got-into-faulkner/) [Tom T. Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-t-hall/) > [I'd have liked to have been another Faulkner, of course.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-paulson/i-d-have-liked-to-have-been-another-faulkner-of-course/) [Henry Paulson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-paulson/) > [“How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home. —William Faulkner”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nic-pizzolatto/how-often-have-i-lain-beneath-rain-on-a-strange-roof-thinking-of-home/) [Nic Pizzolatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nic-pizzolatto/) > [Faulkner speaks to us on the questions of race, the challenges of modernity, and modern man's dilemma in all of its aspects. That he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-milch/faulkner-speaks-to-us-on-the-questions-of-race-the-challenges-of/) [David Milch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-milch/) > [Faulkner turned out to be a great teacher. When a student asked a question ineptly, he answered the question with what the student had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/faulkner-turned-out-to-be-a-great-teacher-when-a-student-asked-a/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [Faulkner came from my region and taught me how you could write about a place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-rash/faulkner-came-from-my-region-and-taught-me-how-you-could-write-about/) [Ron Rash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-rash/) > [Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' had an immense effect on me, and most of my novels bear the burn marks of this experience, those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-carey/faulkner-s-as-i-lay-dying-had-an-immense-effect-on-me-and-most-of-my/) [Peter Carey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-carey/) [Browse all 66 Faulkner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faulkner/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were before but who we are now.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ken Burns" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-that-history-is-not-just-about/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Faulkner" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-that-history-is-not-just-about/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/ken-burns-9897_history_i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-t_2058460.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/ken-burns-9897_history_i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-t_2058460.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/ken-burns-9897_history_i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-t_2058460.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were before but who we are now.” — Ken Burns", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ken Burns", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-burns/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-that-history-is-not-just-about/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-burns/i-subscribe-to-william-faulkner-s-view-that-history-is-not-just-about/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```