Humility is not a virtue in a writer, it is an absolute necessity. James Lee Burke More Quotes by James Lee Burke More Quotes From James Lee Burke If you don't compromise your gift, if you write each day as well as you can, and then submit your work and not worry about it and go on to the next piece, you suddenly find oddly enough that you're no more interested in the applause than the silence. You don't hear either one of them. You can never listen to the naysayers. If you do you won't survive. James Lee Burke silenceworrywriting We gain no wisdom by imposing our way on others. James Lee Burke imposinggainsway I sometimes subscribe to the belief that all historical events occur simultaneously, like a dream in the mind of God. Perhaps it is only man who views time sequentially and tries to impose a solar calendar upon it. What if other people, both dead and unborn, are living out their lives in the same space we occupy, without our knowledge or consent?" The Glass Rainbow, p. 138 James Lee Burke spacedreammen I feel blessed in the knowledge that I probably belong to the last generation that will remember what we call "traditional America." James Lee Burke generationsblessedamerica In that moment, when watches and clocks misbehave and you feel a cold vapor wrap itself around your heart, you unconsciously draw a line at the bottom of a long column of numbers and come up with a sum. Perhaps it's one that fills you with contentment and endows you with a level of courage and an acceptance that you didn't know you possessed.Or maybe not. James Lee Burke acceptanceheartnumbers I think all good narration contains an element of mystery and suspense. If it didn't, if the storyline were predictable, we would have no interest in reading it. James Lee Burke suspensereadingthinking Money can't buy happiness but it'll sure keep a mess of grief off your front porch. James Lee Burke money-cant-buy-happinessmessgrief Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work. James Lee Burke rejects-yourejectionway God bless the Reference Librarians James Lee Burke god-blesslibrarianbless There is no higher form of artistic expression then film James Lee Burke artisticfilmexpression That's one of the great advantages of age. You can say, I don't want to, I don't care, you can throw temper tantrums, and nobody minds. James Lee Burke careagemind Never read bad stuff if you're an artist; it will impair your own game. I don't know if you ever played competitive tennis, but you learn not to watch bad tennis; it messes up your game. Art's the same way. James Lee Burke readinggamesart But the participants [in war] never forgot the details of their experience, and like the Wandering Jew, they were condemned to remain their own history books, each containing a story they could not pass on to others and from which no one would learn anything of value. James Lee Burke detailswarbook 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 artistsomewhere-elseworld 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. James Lee Burke rocketscracksgiving 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 choicessoulbelieve One day you'll have a quiet heart. James Lee Burke one-dayheartquiet 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 warcountrypeople If we break promises to God, shouldn't we be allowed an occasional violation of our word to our friends and superiors? James Lee Burke our-wordsbreakpromise 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 crime-novelsviewsthinking
