James Lee Burke Quotations

..why is it that in problematic situations almost everyone resorts to axioms and societal remedies that in actuality almost nobody believes in?...ask yourself, have you ever known anyone whose marriage was saved by a marriage counselor, whose drinking was cured by a psychiatrist, whose son was kept out of reform school by a social worker?

A lie is an act of theft. It steals peoples faith and makes them resent themselves

Today, there are more opportunities for writers in terms of access to larger success, but it's more difficult to publish a literary novel in the lower ranges. In other words, you almost have to hit a home run. You can hit a triple, maybe, but nobody's interested in a single.

How do you caution a fawn about a cigarette a motorist has just flipped from his car window into a patch of yellow grass, or tell a sparrow that winged creatures eventually plummet to earth?

You do it a day at a time. You just put your rejection slips in a shoebox and tell yourself one day you're going to autograph them and sell them at auction.

To misuse one's talent, to be cavalier about it, to set it aside because of fear or sloth is unpardonable.

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.

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?

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.

One day you'll have a quiet heart.