“It’s so foolish to live (which is always trouble enough) and not to save your soul”

“It’s so foolish to live (which is always trouble enough) and not to save your soul” is an epigraph attributed to Willa Cather. Its pointed contrast makes living itself a source of difficulty while presenting the saving of the soul as an obligation that should not be neglected.

Text and Attribution

The book prints the expression in capital letters: “IT’S SO FOOLISH TO LIVE (WHICH IS ALWAYS TROUBLE ENOUGH) AND NOT TO SAVE YOUR SOUL.” It is followed by an attribution to Willa Cather. The parenthetical phrase interrupts the broad statement about living with a wry qualification: life is already troublesome enough, yet that difficulty does not excuse failing to save one’s soul.

Placement and Significance

The epigraph appears beneath the heading for Part III, before Chapter 16. Immediately before it, Jasper is looking forward to spending more time with Voda; the next chapter opens on his years of swindling and his arrival as a tidy, accommodating houseguest. This placement puts the maxim about spiritual responsibility at the threshold of a section that turns to Jasper’s conduct, without specifying what salvation means or declaring that he has achieved it. The expression therefore supplies a moral question for the reader rather than a stated resolution.