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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

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James Lee Burke
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: December 5
Author
Novelist
Writer
Houston
Texas
Think
Eras
Thinking
Passings
Like
Passing
Tragedy
Neither
Matter
Much
Would

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One day you'll have a quiet heart.
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We all end up in the same place. Some sonner than others.
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I used to save all my rejection slips because I told myself, one day I'm going to autograph these and auction them. And then I lost the box.
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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.
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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.
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...and I wonder if there is any way to adequately describe the folly that causes us to undo all the great gifts of both Earth and Heaven.
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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.
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There's nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself.
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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.
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I feel blessed in the knowledge that I probably belong to the last generation that will remember what we call traditional America.
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Don't let anyone tell you that age purchases your freedom from fear of death.
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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?
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To misuse one's talent, to be cavalier about it, to set it aside because of fear or sloth is unpardonable.
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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.
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Age is a peculiar kind of thief. It slips up on you and steps inside your skin and is so quiet and methodical in its work that you never realize it has stolen your youth until you look into the mirror one morning and see a man you don't recognize.
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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.
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You have two choices in life. You either die or do something with your time. You're going to be doing something - why not write?
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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.
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If you put somebody on a crack pipe and give them a 9 mm Baretta, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what's going to happen next.
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The only thing an artist has to remember is to never lose faith in his vision.
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