--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Is all niceness then or is all buggery?…" description: "\"“Is all niceness then or is all buggery? How can a man be forty-five years old and still not know whether all is niceness or buggery? How does one know..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e05/walker-percy-1958_five-years_is-all-niceness-then-or-is-all-buggery-h_1454311.png" --- # Is all niceness then or is all buggery? How can a man be… ![“Is all niceness then or is all buggery? How can a man be forty-five years old and still not know whether all is niceness or buggery? How does one know for sure?” quote by Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e05/walker-percy-1958_five-years_is-all-niceness-then-or-is-all-buggery-h_1454311.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e05/walker-percy-1958_five-years_is-all-niceness-then-or-is-all-buggery-h_1454311.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e05/walker-percy-1958_five-years_is-all-niceness-then-or-is-all-buggery-h_1454311.png) > ““Is all niceness then or is all buggery? How can a man be forty-five years old and still not know whether all is niceness or buggery? How does one know for sure?”” [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator questions whether moral behavior is genuine or merely performative, reflecting uncertainty about ethical identity. **In simple terms:** Questioning the authenticity of kindness. Key Takeaway Examine motives behind actions. Themes morality identity skepticism Mood philosophical critical Type thought‑provoking inquisitive When to use this quote - personal decision making - leadership evaluation - cultural critique Key Concepts authenticity ethical ambiguity self‑reflection Questions to Reflect On - What defines true kindness? - How can we discern genuine intent? A Different Perspective Might lead to cynicism if over‑questioned. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Five years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/five-years/) [Know Niceness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-niceness-5238039/) [Man Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-years-654322/) [Niceness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/niceness/) [Niceness Buggery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/niceness-buggery-5238038/) [Years Old](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-old/) ## Related quotes > [I'm the kind of person who can be with a man for years and never touch him. 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Share his house, his meals, speak on every subject. Then tie him up and hold him over the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/live-with-a-man-forty-years-share-his-house-his-meals-speak-on-every/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You can be with a man for twenty years and never really know who he truly is. Then again, you can meet a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-taylor-bradford/you-can-be-with-a-man-for-twenty-years-and-never-really-know-who-he/) [Barbara Taylor Bradford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-taylor-bradford/) > [“Then the earth grew old, its landscapes mellowing and showing signs of age, its ways becoming whimsical and strange in the manner of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-moorcock/then-the-earth-grew-old-its-landscapes-mellowing-and-showing-signs-of/) [Michael Moorcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-moorcock/) > [If the bees disappear, man would have only four years of life left.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/if-the-bees-disappear-man-would-have-only-four-years-of-life-left/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Every man at three years old is half his height](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/every-man-at-three-years-old-is-half-his-height/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) ## 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/) [Explore all 194 Walker Percy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) ## More Five years quotes > [“Women will be at least 50 percent of the communications community workforce … from executive suite to interns. Why? 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On that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-perini/his-army-ranger-unit-had-always-been-ready-for-an-ambush-five-years/) [Robin Perini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-perini/) > [“I looked at him, tipping down the coarse wine like a man who expects to put up with worse. I felt I was looking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-renault/i-looked-at-him-tipping-down-the-coarse-wine-like-a-man-who-expects/) [Mary Renault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-renault/) > [I was sober for five years a long time ago and was just bored out of my tree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-sheen/i-was-sober-for-five-years-a-long-time-ago-and-was-just-bored-out-of/) [Charlie Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-sheen/) > [“Whatand why were never questions for me. How was the only question. 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I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-mankoff/i-have-entered-the-new-yorker-s-cartoon-caption-contest-almost-weekly/) [Bob Mankoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-mankoff/) [Browse all 2,724 Five years quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/five-years/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Is all niceness then or is all buggery? How can a man be forty-five years old and still not know whether all is niceness or buggery? 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