“I shivered in the knowledge of the futility of all ambition.”

—  William Styron, book The Confessions of Nat Turner

Part III : Study War
The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967)
Context: I shivered in the knowledge of the futility of all ambition. My mouth was sour with the yellow recollection of death and blood-smeared fields and walls. I watched the girl slip away, vanish without a hand laid upon her. Who knows but whether we were not doomed to lose. I know nothing any longer. Nothing. Did I really wish to vouchsafe a life for the one that I had taken?

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William Styron photo
William Styron36
American novelist and essayist 1925–2006

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