all along the hightower

It is because a fellow is more afraid of the trouble he might have than he ever is of the trouble he’s already got. He’ll cling to trouble he’s used to before he’ll risk a change. Yes. A man will talk about how he’d like to escape from living folks. But it’s the dead folks that’ll do him the damage. It’s the dead ones that lay quiet in one place and don’t try to hold him, that he can’t escape from.

William Faulkner, "A Light In August" (1932)