--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's just incredible. It just does not…" description: "\"“It's just incredible. It just does not explain. Or perhaps that's it: they don't explain and we are not supposed to know. We have a few old mouth-to-m..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59c/william-faulkner-306_falling-to-pieces_it-s-just-incredible-it-just-does-not-ex_2130435.jpg" --- # It's just incredible. It just does not explain. Or perhaps… ![“It's just incredible. It just does not explain. Or perhaps that's it: they don't explain and we are not supposed to know. We have a few old mouth-to-mouth tales, we exhume from old trunks and boxes and drawers letters without salutation or signature, in which men and women who once lived and…” quote by William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59c/william-faulkner-306_falling-to-pieces_it-s-just-incredible-it-just-does-not-ex_2130435.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59c/william-faulkner-306_falling-to-pieces_it-s-just-incredible-it-just-does-not-ex_2130435.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59c/william-faulkner-306_falling-to-pieces_it-s-just-incredible-it-just-does-not-ex_2130435.jpg) > ““It's just incredible. It just does not explain. Or perhaps that's it: they don't explain and we are not supposed to know. We have a few old mouth-to-mouth tales, we exhume from old trunks and boxes and drawers letters without salutation or signature, in which men and women who once lived and breathed are now merely initials or nicknames out of some now incomprehensible affection which sound to us like Sanskrit or Chocktaw; we see dimly people, the people in whose living blood and seed we ourselves lay dormant and waiting, in this shadowy attenuation of time possessing now heroic proportions, performing their acts of simple passion and simple violence, impervious to time and inexplicable - Yes, Judith, Bon, Henry, Sutpen: all of them. They are there, yet something is missing; they are like a chemical formula exhumed along with the letters from that forgotten chest, carefully, the paper old and faded and falling to pieces, the writing faded, almost indecipherable, yet meaningful, familiar in shape and sense, the name and presence of volatile and sentient forces; you bring them together in the proportions called for, but nothing happens; you re-read, tedious and intent, poring, making sure that you have forgotten nothing, made no miscalculation; you bring them together again and again nothing happens: just the words, the symbols, the shapes themselves, shadowy inscrutable and serene, against that turgid background of a horrible and bloody mischancing of human affairs.”” [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage reflects on the elusive nature of history, memory, and meaning, suggesting that past narratives are fragmented and often incomprehensible. **In simple terms:** History and memory are fragmented and hard to fully grasp. Key Takeaway Accept that some histories remain partially unknowable. Themes history memory meaning fragmentation Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - archival research - family genealogy - historical documentaries - creative writing Key Concepts narrative theory existentialism literary analysis Questions to Reflect On - What stories from your past feel incomplete? - How do you find meaning in fragmented histories? 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