John Burnside Quotes

John Burnside
Scottish Writer
Born: Mar 19, 1955
Great Life Me Think Time World
Related authors: Alexander McCall Smith Armando Iannucci Frances Wright Grant Morrison Henry Drummond Jane Welsh Carlyle Robert Louis Stevenson Steven Moffat
The son of a Fife mining town sledder of coal-bings, bottle-forager, and picture-house troglodyte, I was decidedly urban and knew little about native fauna, other than the handful of birds I saw on trips to the beach or Sunday walks. John Burnside
Son Sunday Walks Other Birds Saw Mining About Trips Beach Knew Town Handful Than Native Decidedly Urban Little Fife
This is a truth that should be repeated like a mantra: to have any chance of a ful - filling life, we require not only clean air and a steady climate, but also an abundance of meadows and woodlands, rivers and oceans, teeming with life and the mass existence of other living creatures. John Burnside
Life Truth Living Teeming Other Air Steady Only Clean Clean Air Rivers Abundance Mass Like Also Climate Oceans Repeated Existence Any Meadows Require Should Mantra Filling Creatures Living Creatures Chance
High Alpine meadows, like their near relatives prairie, desert and certain varieties of wetland, teach us to consider the world from a fresh perspective, to open our eyes and take account of what we have missed, reminding us that, in spite of our emphasis on the visual in everyday speech, we see so very little of the world. John Burnside
Eyes World Perspective Relatives Everyday Consider Our High Visual See Spite Take Open Emphasis Reminding Missed Like Fresh Prairie Very Account Meadows Little Us Certain Teach Desert Near Speech
In time, we will have to recognise that it is not 'nature' that we need to protect, but ourselves, and we can only do this by abandoning the old, grandiose, profit-seeking schemes so beloved of our masters and learning to till the soil, live to scale, and live within our means. John Burnside
Time Nature Learning Old Soil Will Live Our Recognise Scale Ourselves Abandoning Only Schemes Protect Masters Within Till Grandiose Means Beloved Need
Our ancestors went to the woods to find fuel; they set snares there for birds and gathered nuts and fungi. John Burnside
Birds Our Nuts Ancestors Find Snare Woods Fuel Set Gathered
Usually, I would mistrust a book if it took that long to write. Usually, if it isn't done in two years, I suspect there's something wrong and throw it away. John Burnside
Book Long Took Would Something Throw Write Wrong Mistrust Years Suspect Done Away Two
A mad person isn't someone who sees what isn't there; he's someone who sees what is there but that others can't see. I really believe that. John Burnside
Believe Others Mad See Someone Sees He Person Really Who
I don't like the term 'mental illness.' I'd rather just say 'mad.' Just like I always say 'loony bin,' not 'mental hospital.' John Burnside
Say Mad Mental Rather Mental Illness Hospital Term Like Loony Always Just Illness Bin
I know that the only reason American landscapes sometimes disappoint me is that, just a century before I was born, the great rivers and prairies and wild forests still existed. And they were sublime. John Burnside
Great Me Sometimes Before Wild Born Only Rivers Disappoint Know Prairie Still Were Existed Sublime Forests American Just Century Landscapes Reason
When you have a child, you think about your personal history and what you offer them as a larger narrative, and I realised I knew nothing about my father's circumstances other than what he'd told me. John Burnside
Me History You Father Nothing Think Other Circumstances About He Knew Narrative Offer Than Child Personal Realised Them Your Larger
My father was this big, tough guy, almost heroic in proportion to me as a child. It was only later that I saw how fearful he was. John Burnside
Me Father Tough Big Heroic Later Saw Fearful Guy Only Tough Guy Proportion He Almost How Child
I love long sentences. My big heroes of fiction writing are Henry James and Proust - people who recognise that life doesn't consist of declarative statements, but rather modifications, qualifications and feelings. John Burnside
Life Love People Writing Heroes Long Feelings Big Statements Consist Recognise Rather Qualifications Proust Fiction James Fiction Writing Sentences Who Henry Henry James
I really like to try my hand at everything, and I think it's probably dangerous to let oneself be pigeon-holed, not necessarily by other people, but in one's own mind. John Burnside
People Dangerous Try Mind Own Think Other Everything Oneself Like Pigeon-Holed Hand Really Necessarily

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