There is something about jumping a horse over a fence, something that makes you feel good. Perhaps it’s the risk, the gamble. In any event it’s a thing I need.

More from William Faulkner

• A gentleman can live through anything.
• Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
• A man is the sum of his misfortunes. One day you’d think misfortune would get tired, but then time is your misfortune.
• Between grief and nothing I will take grief.
• Clocks slay time. Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.
• Even a liar can be scared into telling the truth, same as an honest man can be tortured into telling a lie.