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The Walker Percy Project

Who Said That? Quiz

Enjoy this quiz for a fun diversion for readers at all levels while learning about Walker Percy.

INSTRUCTIONS: Walker Percy's novels are populated with colorful characters. Read the quotes below, taken from his six novels, and determine which character in which book actually said it. Once you have made your guess, click "Who Said That?" to get the answer. Have fun!

"...instructions from myself to myself...As I write this to you, I don't remember everything but I remember more than you will remember when you read this. You remember nothing now, do you? I know this from experience. Electroshock knocks out memory for a while. I don't feel bad. To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure I'm sick..."
"Lord, grant that my work increase knowledge and help other men. Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man's destruction. Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in Brain be published before the destruction takes place."
"Nowadays when a person lives somewhere, in a neighborhood, the place is not certified for him.... But if he sees a movie which shows his very neighborhood, it becomes possible for him to live, for a time at least, as a person who is Somewhere and not Anywhere."
"I perceive that you're not a patient but that something is wrong with you. You're more abstracted than usual. Are you in love?"
"He registered a dizzy 7.6 mmv over Brodmann 32, the area of abstractive activity. Since that time I have learned that a reading over 6 generally means that a person has so abstracted himself from himself and from the world around him, seeing things as theories and himself as a shadow, that he cannot, so to speak, reenter the lovely ordinary world...."
"What is the nature of the search? you ask. The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair."
"Curiosity and interest and boredom have replaced the so-called emotions we used to read about in novels or see registered on actors' faces. Even the horrors of the age translate into interest. Did you ever watch anybody pick up a newspaper and read the headline PLANE CRASH KILLS THREE HUNDRED? How horrible! says the reader. But look at him when he hands you the paper. Is he horrified? No, he is interested. When is the last time you saw anybody horrified?"

Thank you for keeping Walker Percy from getting lost in the cosmos!

We hope our educational and entertaining quizzes will help to keep Walker Percy's works and thought alive in the public awareness.