--- title: Tim Kaine Quotes William Faulkner in Concession Speech description: Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine employed the William Faulkner quote as a message of hope canonical: https://time.com/4564820/tim-kaine-quotes-william-faulkner-concession-speech/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-09T18:27:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:43:46.269Z article:section: Politics og:title: Tim Kaine Quotes William Faulkner in Concession Speech: 'They Kilt Us but They Ain't Whupped Us' og:description: The quote originally comes from the short story "Wash" og:url: https://time.com/4564820/tim-kaine-quotes-william-faulkner-concession-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9756e4f767bd65a0/6988add90b72e3f2b36ebb07/tim-kaine.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton Makes A Statement After Loss In Presidential Election og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tim Kaine Quotes William Faulkner in Concession Speech: 'They Kilt Us but They Ain't Whupped Us' twitter:description: The quote originally comes from the short story "Wash" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9756e4f767bd65a0/6988add90b72e3f2b36ebb07/tim-kaine.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tim Kaine Quotes William Faulkner in Concession Speech: 'They Kilt Us but They Ain't Whupped Us' by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 9, 2016 6:27 PM UTC  Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) (L) and his wife Anne Holton introduce Kaine's running mate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before she was to concede the presidential election at the New Yorker Hotel on November 9, 2016 in New York City. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) (L) and his wife Anne Holton introduce Kaine's running mate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before she was to concede the presidential election at the New Yorker Hotel on November 9, 2016 in New York City.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 9, 2016 6:27 PM UTC When a character comes home from the Civil War in [William Faulkner’s ](http://time.com/3933957/armed-services-editions/)1934 short story “[Wash](https://literaturesave2.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/william-faulkner-wash.pdf),” the poor white Southerner who lives on his property greets him with optimism. “Well, Kernel,” he says, “they kilt us but they ain’t whupped us yit, air they?” The reader knows in fact it’s hopeless, but in his concession speech on Wednesday morning, Democratic vice presidential candidate [Tim Kaine](http://time.com/4557271/tim-kaine-speech-spanish-arizona/) employed the quote as a message of hope. Although he and his running mate [Hillary Clinton](http://motto.time.com/4564715/hillary-clinton-concedes-election-donald-trump/) had lost, he said, Democrats aren’t done fighting for what they believe in. As for the two men on the plantation (who later appeared as characters in [_Absalom, Absalom!_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679732187/?tag=timecom-20)), Faulkner continues, “That was the tenor of their conversation for the next five years.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4564820/tim-kaine-quotes-william-faulkner-concession-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4564820/tim-kaine-quotes-william-faulkner-concession-speech/"},"headline":"Tim Kaine Quotes William Faulkner in Concession Speech: 'They Kilt Us but They Ain't Whupped Us'","datePublished":"2016-11-09T18:27:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:43:46.269Z","description":"The quote originally comes from the short story \"Wash\"","url":"https://time.com/4564820/tim-kaine-quotes-william-faulkner-concession-speech/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9756e4f767bd65a0/6988add90b72e3f2b36ebb07/tim-kaine.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9756e4f767bd65a0/6988add90b72e3f2b36ebb07/tim-kaine.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton Makes A Statement After Loss In Presidential Election","caption":"Hillary Clinton Makes A Statement After Loss In Presidential Election","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4564820/tim-kaine-quotes-william-faulkner-concession-speech/","name":"Tim Kaine Quotes William Faulkner in Concession Speech: 'They Kilt Us but They Ain't Whupped Us'"}}]}] ```