Walker Percy

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Walker Percy (1916 – 1990) American novelist

Contents 1 Sourced 1.1 The Last Self-Help Book 1.2 Message in a Bottle 2 Attributed

Sourced

The Last Self-Help Book

• "Why it is that of all the billions and billions of strange objects in the Cosmos -- novas, quasars, pulsars, black holes -- you are beyond doubt the strangest?"

Message in a Bottle

• "Where does one start with a theory of man if the theory of man as an organism in an environment doesn't work and all the attributes of man which were accepted in the old modern age are now called into question: his soul, mind, freedom, will, Godlikeness?

There is only one place to start: the place where man's singularity is there for all to see and cannot be called into question, even in a new age in which everything else is in dispute. That singularity is language... Why is there such a gap between nonspeaking animals and speaking man, when there is no other such gap in nature? Is it possible that a theory of man is nothing more nor less than a theory of the speaking creatures?"

Attributed

• "Hatred strikes me as one of the few signs of life remaining in the world. This is another thing about the world which is upsidedown: all the friendly and likable people seem dead to me; only the haters seem alive."

• "I had discovered that a person does not have to be this or be that or be anything, not even oneself. One is free."

• "You can get all A's and still flunk life."

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