---
title: "2 People Real Quotes By Walker Percy"
description: "2 People Real quotes by Walker Percy. Plus more from Walker Percy and more People Real sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/walker-percy-1958_being-real_have-you-noticed-that-only-in-time-of-il_467506.jpg"
---

> [Have you noticed that only in time of illness or disaster or death are people real? I remember at the time of the wreck-- people were so kind and helpful and solid. Everyone pretended that our lives until that moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/have-you-noticed-that-only-in-time-of-illness-or-disaster-or-death/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9a/walker-percy-1958_being-real_have-you-noticed-that-only-in-time-of-il_467506.jpg)

> [Have you noticed that only in time of illness or disaster or death are people real?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/have-you-noticed-that-only-in-time-of-illness-or-disaster-or-death-2/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cc/walker-percy-1958_death_have-you-noticed-that-only-in-time-of-il_2685633.png)

## More by Walker Percy

> [“Do you know what he told me after lying under a cliff for thirty six hours with two inches of his femur sticking out?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/do-you-know-what-he-told-me-after-lying-under-a-cliff-for-thirty-six/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [Americans are the nicest, most generous, and sentimental people on earth. Yet Americans have killed more unborn children than any nation in history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/americans-are-the-nicest-most-generous-and-sentimental-people-on/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [“The real wonder is not that the Cosmos is now seen as wonderful but that it is not. Despite its inconceivable vastness, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/the-real-wonder-is-not-that-the-cosmos-is-now-seen-as-wonderful-but/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [“Ours is the only civilization in history which has enshrined mediocrity as its national ideal. Others have been corrupt, but leave it to us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/ours-is-the-only-civilization-in-history-which-has-enshrined/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [ \[In art\] you are telling the reader or the listener or the viewer something he already knows but which he doesn't quite know that… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/in-art-you-are-telling-the-reader-or-the-listener-or-the-viewer/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [“People usually told him the same joke two or three times.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/people-usually-told-him-the-same-joke-two-or-three-times/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [For the world is broken, sundered, busted down the middle, self ripped from self and man pasted back together as mythical monster, half angel,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/for-the-world-is-broken-sundered-busted-down-the-middle-self-ripped/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [Nobody but a Southerner knows the wrenching rinsing sadness of the cities of the North.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/nobody-but-a-southerner-knows-the-wrenching-rinsing-sadness-of-the/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [“For me, all signifiers fit me, one as well as another. I am rascal, hero, craven, brave, treacherous, loyal, at once the secret hero…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/for-me-all-signifiers-fit-me-one-as-well-as-another-i-am-rascal-hero/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [“But the expectation of the self, to be informed in its nothingness--if only I can get out of this old place and into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/but-the-expectation-of-the-self-to-be-informed-in-its-nothingness-if/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [Nothing remains but desire, and desire comes howling down Elysian Fields like a mistral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/nothing-remains-but-desire-and-desire-comes-howling-down-elysian/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [“A variant of the amnesic-plot device is the inadvertent return of the amnesiac to home territory, where he is welcomed by a lovely woman,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/a-variant-of-the-amnesic-plot-device-is-the-inadvertent-return-of-the/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [A novel is what you call something that won't sell if you call it poems or short stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/a-novel-is-what-you-call-something-that-won-t-sell-if-you-call-it/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/the-search-is-what-anyone-would-undertake-if-he-were-not-sunk-in-the/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

> [“Am I, in my search, a hundred miles ahead of my fellow Americans or a hundred miles behind them? That is to say: Have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/am-i-in-my-search-a-hundred-miles-ahead-of-my-fellow-americans-or-a/)

[Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/)

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