June 03, 2012

Within the porticoes of the great churches of Mexico are signs reminding visitors to behave with dignity.  The signs are in English. ~ Richard Rodriguez (from "Days of Obligation")

October 25, 2010

I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail.  He is immortal, not because he alone 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 honour and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.  The poet's voice need not be merely the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail. ~ William Faulkner (from his Nobel Prize for Literature acceptance speech)