John Burnside Quotes: top 49 famous quotes about John Burnside

John Burnside Quotes & Sayings

Happy to read and share the best inspirational John Burnside quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.

Andoya is in a different world, set at the northern edge of Europe in what seems to be a time and weather of its own. — John Burnside

'The Gardener' is more than a marvellous collection of images by a master photographer. — John Burnside

Once upon a time, forests were repositories of magic for the human race. — John Burnside

I moved south when I was 11 years old, moved to England. I've lived in all kinds of places, all parts of England. — John Burnside

For 10 years, I gave away my possessions every year and moved on to a new place. — John Burnside

With human beings it could be argued that all music-making is, in essence, grounded in improvisation. — John Burnside

I remember playing the Mad Hatter in a school play and feeling very comfortable in the character. — John Burnside

My second, third and fourth novels were mistakes, essentially. — John Burnside

Poetry stands or falls by its music. — John Burnside

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

Growing up, I lived in a house without art: no picture books on the shelves, no visits to museums, no posters on the bedroom wall. — John Burnside

I went for a walk in the Arctic Circle without map or compass. Fortunately, I was only lost for hours, not days. — John Burnside

I'm an insomniac, so my perfect reader is probably another insomniac. — John Burnside

Thatcherite economic policy was most acutely felt in the coal industry, where tens of thousands of jobs were lost as pits were shut down. — John Burnside

My first book was a car crash. I tried to find all the copies and destroy them. — John Burnside

The older I get, the happier my childhood becomes. — John Burnside

I think humans have to learn a new way of dwelling on this earth. A way of living with their companions: animals, plants and fish. — John Burnside

Sadly, bird illustration has always been an under-appreciated art. — John Burnside

Every time I write a book, I think how I could be doing it better to please people - a nicer book with nicer characters - but I just can't. — John Burnside

You can't sit down and decide what you want to write about. — John Burnside

Anyone who has ever stopped to watch a hawk in flight will know that this is one of the natural world's most elegant phenomena. — John Burnside

My editor, Robin Robertson, is one of this country's finest poets, so I listen to him when he offers advice. — John Burnside

I'm interested in the way language is used to navigate the world around us. — John Burnside

Our ancestors went to the woods to find fuel; they set snares there for birds and gathered nuts and fungi. — John Burnside

'Moby-Dick' really threw me. I read it when I was 14 and my best friends were books. It changed the way I looked at the world. — John Burnside

'The Asylum Dance' was written after I'd moved back to Scotland and was a response to moving to my old home area of Fife. — John Burnside

As a child, I was consumed with a near-obsessive curiosity about what the world felt like for other creatures. — John Burnside

If nature offers no home, then we must make a home one way or another. The only question is how. — John Burnside

One of the most beautiful objects I have ever seen was a Yupik wolf mask, made in Nunivak in around 1890. — John Burnside

It's important to have quiet time and isolation. — John Burnside

Today, however, she didn't go looking for urchins or broken shells. She simply walked to the end of the earth and stood a while. — John Burnside

It takes a true encounter to realise that real animals, wild animals, have all but passed from our lives. — John Burnside

No one could say it was my choice to kill the twins, any more than it was my decision to bring them into the world. — John Burnside

I realised I'd spent a lot of time in my poetry trying to find a way of talking about that whereof we cannot speak. — John Burnside

A man was defined, in my father's circles, by what he could bear, the pain he could shrug off, the warmth or comfort he could deny himself. — John Burnside

All my life, I have been a celebrant of Halloween. For me, it is the most important day of the year, the turning point in the old pagan calendar. — John Burnside

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

If I tell you a story, you can choose to believe me, or you can question it. — John Burnside

The fabric of a garden is determined as much by its textures as by its tonal range and architectural flair. — John Burnside

I always wanted to be a painter. I loved painting. I went on three different art courses but had no talent whatsoever. — John Burnside

And I wake, in the cage of my bones,
on the same cold ground. — John Burnside

Irrationality interests me more than anything: sometimes it's very dangerous, but it can be incredibly beautiful. — John Burnside

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

The only pleasure in redecorating or moving house comes from stumbling across books that I'd almost forgotten I owned. — John Burnside

He lied all the time even when there was no need to lie [ ... ] He needed a _history_, a sense of self. [Burnside on his father, p. 22] — John Burnside

Sometimes, when the wind hits hard and icicles form on the sea cliffs, we can all come together - and at those times, we are at our best. — John Burnside

As attractive as it is, the idea that nature can exist beyond our dangerous 'instinct for happiness' is never the whole story. — John Burnside

What we should be doing is saving habitats, not single species, no matter what their cuteness factor. — John Burnside

One day I was talking about what I was going to do next, and just found myself announcing it: 'I'm going to write a book about my father.' — John Burnside