The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.?

Question

Where does this William Faulkner quote come from?

Answer 1

If he ever did actually say or write that, I think he was quoting an old Chinese proverb. It's interesting that, though you can find online dozens and dozens of attributings of this quote to Faulkner, not one of these citations lists a source for the quote -- a name of a novel or story, or the occasion of a speech, or something.

Answer 2

Try "The Quotations of Mao Tse-Tung" in which Mao repeats the tale of a peasant couple who moved a mountain a stone at a time.

This famous "Little Red Book" is available from Abebooks at less than $5.  This story and the section on guerilla warfare are very interesting.  The rest will put you to sleep in a hurry.

Answer 3

From the same ancient source as the "long journey begins with a single step" and the other trite little cliches that pass for wisdom. I'm sure they've been around since before written history and an attempt to source them would depend on how far back you went.

Answer 4

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Fau...

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Wil...

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/---and_t...

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/author...

http://www.icelebz.com/quotes/william_fa...

http://www.amusingquotes.com/h/f/William...

http://www.literary-quotations.com/f/wil...

http://quotes4all.net/authors/william%20...

http://www.midnightangel308.com/william_...

I can believe this because :

I have leased an allotment in my local vacinity to spend some leisure time and teach our children some of life's basic needs, and methods to oversome some of life's requirements and to understand more about eating their greens.

My husband made 20 box eaxh about a foot deep and yard and a half square.

My sons and I we filled the boxes up with the soil from a local building site (70 wheelbarrows).

we are now watching our veggies germinate and grow in the boxes.

Answer 5

I have to agree with Chas.

A pithy little saying, that boring little wombats can throw into any conversation when they can't think of anything original or relevant.

the man who removes mountains begins with a call to Caterpillar or the guy who sells TNT.