“We do not make up history and culture. We simply appear, not by our own choice.”

— Saul Bellow

Great Jewish Short Stories, introduction to the Dell paperback edition (1963)
General sources
Context: We are all such accidents. We do not make up history and culture. We simply appear, not by our own choice. We make what we can of our condition with the means available. We must accept the mixture as we find it — the impurity of it, the tragedy of it, the hope of it.

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Saul Bellow 103

Canadian-born American writer 1915–2005

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