Sound and The Fury

There are some passages that thrill, some that enrage, some that disgust, but few haunt as Quentin's first paragraph in the Sound and The Fury.  It is my favorite literary passage, and Tyler Nault, my protagonist in Solstice, references it.  Read it.  Then read it again.

"When the shadow of the sash appeared on the curtains it was between seven and eight o'clock and then I was in time again, hearing the watch.  It was Grandfather's and when Father gave it to me he said, Quentin, I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it's rather excruciating-ly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your needs no better than it fitted his or his father's.  I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it.  Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosopher's and fools."