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.

and Victor A. The Thanatos Syndrome. A Thief of Peirce: The Letters of Kenneth Laine Ketner and Walker Percy.

Percy is known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans Louisiana the first of which The Moviegoer won the U. S. He devoted his literary life to the exploration of "the dislocation of man in the modern age.