" There came over me a terrifying sense of understanding about the meaning and the pathetic destiny of men. It was always there, a patient white animal, waiting for men to die, for civilizations to flicker and pass into the darkness. Then men seemed brave to me, and I was proud to be numbered among them. All the evil of the world seemed not evil at all, but inevitable and good and part of that endless struggle to keep the desert down. "

― John Fante , Ask the Dust (The Saga of Arturo Bandini, #3)