Flannery O'Connor Quote
"Just" or not "Just"

There has been a lot of debate on Flannery's actual quote. The truth is that it has been misquoted frequently. To that end, we have sourced the original quote from the actual letter she wrote to her friend, Elizabeth "Betty" Hester, on December 16, 1955, and are delighted to confirm that the quote has been correct from the beginning. We're especially excited for those of you who were on the fence about buying the shirt because they thought the quote was wrong. Now you can purchase with peace of mind! Below is the authentic letter typed by Flanner, scanned and archived by Emory University in Georgia.​

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"I was once, five or six years ago, taken by some friends to have dinner with Mary McCarthy and her husband, Mr. Broadwater (She wrote that book, A CharmedLife, reviewed in Time). She departed at the age of 15 and Is a Big Intellectual. We went at eight and at one, I hadn't opened my mouth once, there being nothing for me in such company to say.  The people who took me were Robert Lowell and his now wife, Elizabeth Hardwick. Having me there was like having a dog present who had been trained to say a few words but overcome with inadequacy had forgotten them. 

Well, toward morning the conversation turned to the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. Mrs. Broadwater said when she was a child and received the Host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the "most portable" Person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one.  I then said in a very shaky voice, "Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it." That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable."