Quotes from William Golding

The folly isn't mine. It's God's folly. Even in the old days he never asked men to do what was reasonable.

I am by nature an optimist and by intellectual conviction a pessimist.

There is nothing in it of course. Just a feeling. But you can feel as if you're not hunting, but - being hunted, as if something's behind you all the time in the jungle.

Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?

Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.

The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers... Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island.

I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men. They are far superior and always have been. Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she will give you a baby. If you give her a house, she will give you a home. If you give her groceries, she will give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she will give you her heart. She multiples and enlarges whatever is given to her. So if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit!

Art is partly communication, but only partly. The rest is discovery.

The greatest ideas are the simplest.

I must say that anyone who passed through those years [of World War II] without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.

His manual of heaven and hell lay open before me, and I could perceive my nothingness in this scheme.

I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men; they are far superior and always have been.