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Why is there such a gap between nonspeaking animals and speaking man, when there is no other such gap in nature?

Walker Percy

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Walker Percy
Age: 73 †
Born: 1916
Born: May 28
Died: 1990
Died: May 10
Author
Novelist
Philosopher
Physician
Writer
Birmingham
Alabama
Animals
Creatures
Animal
Nature
Men
Gaps
Speaking

More quotes by Walker Percy

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It is possible, however, that the artist is both thin-skinned and prophetic and, like the canary lowered into the mine shaft to test the air, has caught a whiff of something lethal.
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Lord, grant that my work increase knowledge and help other men. Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man’s destruction. Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in Brain be published before the destruction takes place.
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Ignorance, if recognized, is often more fruitful than the appearance of knowledge.
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We love those who know the worst of us and don't turn their face away.
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Why is it that no other species but man gets bored? Under the circumstances in which a man gets bored, a dog goes to sleep.
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Where there is chance of gain, there is also chance of loss. Whenever one courts great happiness, one also risks malaise.
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I sometimes think novelists write about sex in order to avoid boring themselves to death.
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This Midwestern sky is the nakedest loneliest sky in America. To escape it, people live inside and underground.
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For some time now the impression has been growing upon me that everyone is dead. It happens when I speak to people. In the middle of a sentence it will come over me: yes, beyond a doubt this is death. There is little to do but groan and make an excuse and slip away as quickly as one can.
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You can get all A's and still flunk life.
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Why has the South produced so many good writers? Because we got beat.
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To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something.
Walker Percy
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In this world, goodness is destined to be defeated.
Walker Percy
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Whenever I feel bad, I go to the library and read controversial periodicals. Though I do not know whether I am a liberal or a conservative, I am nevertheless enlivened by the hatred which one bears the other. In fact, this hatred strikes me as one of the few signs of life remaining in the world.
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Jews wait for the Lord, Protestants sing hymns to him, Catholics say mass and eat him.
Walker Percy
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You live in a deranged age, more deranged than usual because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.
Walker Percy
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Genius consists not in making great discoveries, but in seeing the connection between small discoveries.
Walker Percy
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Consciously cultivate the ordinary.
Walker Percy
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Children notice things first, people later.
Walker Percy
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Peace is only better than war when it's not hell too. War being hell makes sense.
Walker Percy