Quote

We decry violence all the time in this country, but look at our history. We were born in a violent revolution, and we've been in wars ever since. We're not a pacific people.

James Lee Burke

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

James Lee Burke
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: December 5
Author
Novelist
Writer
Houston
Texas
War
Decry
History
Pacific
Ever
Wars
Look
Violent
Looks
Revolution
Country
Violence
Time
Since
People
Born

More quotes by James Lee Burke

Image
Don't let anyone tell you that age purchases your freedom from fear of death.
James Lee Burke
Image
Neither our own passing nor the passing of an era is a tragedy, no matter how much we would like to think it is.
James Lee Burke
Image
Write for the love of your art. Someplace down the road, the money, the fame, they'll come, but by that time you won't be thinking in terms of money or fame.
James Lee Burke
Image
Age is a clever thief. It takes a little from you each day, so you're not aware of your loss until it'd irreversible.
James Lee Burke
Image
We gain no wisdom by imposing our way on others.
James Lee Burke
Image
I could only wonder again at the white race's naïveté in always sending forth our worst members as our emissaries.
James Lee Burke
Image
The real gladiators of the world are so humble in their origins and unremarkable in appearance that when we stand next to them in a grocery-store line, we never guess how brightly their souls can burn in the dark.
James Lee Burke
Image
And every good artist knows that the gift comes from somewhere else, and it's there for a reason, and that's to make the world a better place.
James Lee Burke
Image
It has been my experience that most human stories are circular rather than linear. Regardless of the path we choose, we somehow end up where we commenced - in part, I suspect, because the child who lives in us goes along for the ride.
James Lee Burke
Image
I think the crime novel has replaced the sociological novel of the 1930s. I think the progenitor of that tradition is James M. Cain, who in my view is the most neglected writer in American literature.
James Lee Burke
Image
One day you'll have a quiet heart.
James Lee Burke
Image
The only thing an artist has to remember is to never lose faith in his vision.
James Lee Burke
Image
And like most middle-aged people who hear the clock ticking in their lives, I had come to resent a waste or theft of my time that was greater than any theft of my goods or money.
James Lee Burke
Image
If there is any human tragedy, there is only one, and it occurs when we forget who we are and remain silent while a stranger takes up residence inside our skin.
James Lee Burke
Image
Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work.
James Lee Burke
Image
Is there a design in the events of our lives? Or do things just happen, much like a junk yard falling down a staircase? If it's the latter, how do you deal with it?
James Lee Burke
Image
There is no higher form of artistic expression then film
James Lee Burke
Image
I believe the causes that create them [serial killers] are theological in nature, rather than societal. I believe they make a conscious choice to erase God's thumbprint from their souls.
James Lee Burke
Image
Success, like fashion, is a fickle companion and can leave one in the wink of an eye.
James Lee Burke
Image
To misuse one's talent, to be cavalier about it, to set it aside because of fear or sloth is unpardonable.
James Lee Burke