No man will ever be whole and dignified and free except in the knowledge that the men around him are whole and dignified and free, and that the world itself is free of contempt and misuse.

Given: New Poems. Wind Publications 2005. 2004.

He is also an elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers a recipient of The National Humanities Medal and the Jefferson Lecturer for 2012. He is a prolific author of novels short stories poems and essays. Wendell Berry (born August 5 1934) is an American man of letters academic cultural and economic critic and farmer.