Quote of the Day, 7/11/06

I'll try to post a quote each day. This way, if I have nothing to talk about, I can either discuss the quote, or just put it out there. Also, this makes my first blog post make more sense -- I actually meant to do that!

For today, something from William Faulkner's Nobel Prize speech, 1950:

I decline to accept the end of man... I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

I chose this quote today because it ties nicely in with the book recommendation I made a couple days ago (Once Upon a Town), which is a great reminder of the "courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice" of our past. Also, it speaks to some recent disheartenment of a friend, and is my way of saying -- we humans, we'll be okay.

Two quotes in this blog so far, and both from Faulkner. Tomorrow maybe I'll find a different source.