The world according to James Lee Burke
I have been struggling to land on a subject for the weeks blog. Life is a little crazy lately. Just got back from our family beach trip a couple weeks ago and we are headed to Shepherdstown tomorrow and then St. Petersburg, Florida on Saturday to help Emmy get all moved in to her new place. My truck is stuffed to the gils. Couple days in Florida and then a long drive home on July 4th. My brain is mush.So, I thought I would lean on someone else to share some thoughts.
My favorite author is James Lee Burke. I think I have mentioned him in a past blog? My friend Tom Crooks introduced me to him a long time ago and I have read everything that he has written ever since. I love the way he describes scenes and his characters are majestically flawed, violent, noble, troubled, and wonderful.
I thought I would share some of James Lee Burke’s best quotes with you. I love the way he looks at the world and the tragedy and beauty of life.
“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.”
“When you find the right people, you never let go. The people who count are the ones who are your friends in lean times. You have all the friends you want when things are going well.”
“We gain no wisdom by imposing our way on others.”
I love this one:
“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.”
“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.”
“Mortality is not kind, and do not let anyone tell you it is. If there is such a thing as wisdom, and I have serious doubts about its presence in my own life, it lies in the acceptance of the human condition and perhaps the knowledge that those who have passed on are still with us, out there in the mist, showing us the way, sometimes uttering a word of caution from the shadows, sometimes visiting us in our sleep, as bright as a candle burning inside a basement that has no windows.”
“At a certain age, you realize the greatest loss you can experience is a theft you perpetrate upon yourself – the waste of days given us. Is there any more piercing remorse than the realization that a person has thrown away the potential that resides in every sunrise?”
“A lie is an act of theft. It steals peoples faith and makes them resent themselves.”
“What happens outside of us doesn’t count. That’s something we don’t have control over. It’s what we do with it, the way that we react to it, that’s important.”
“Tomorrow has no more existence than yesterday, but you can always control now. We live in a series of nows. Think about now.”
“People were not what they said. They were not what they thought. They were not what they promised. People were what they did. When the final tally was done, nothing else mattered.”
My favorite James Lee Burke character is Hackberry Holland. He is the main character in 4 books: Lay Down My Sword and Shield, Rain Gods, Feast Day of Fools, and Rising Sun.
“Hackberry Holland's greatest fear was his fellow man's propensity to act collectively, in militaristic lockstep, under the banner of God and country. Mobs did not rush across town to do good deeds, and in Hackberry's view, there was no more odious taint on any social or political endeavor than universal approval.”
And I love this Hackberry Holland quote in Rain Gods, possibly my favorite book.
“I also figured out that what we call our destiny is usually determined by two or three casual decision which on the surface seem about as important as spitting your gum through a sewer grate.”
Pick up a James Lee Burke book and read it.