174 Quotes by James Lee Burke

"I also believe my home state is cursed by ignorance and poverty and racism, much of it deliberately inculcated to control a vulnerable electorate. And I believe many of the politicians in Louisiana are among the most stomach-churning examples of white trash and venality I have ever known. To me, the fact that large numbers of people find them humorously picaresque is mind numbing, on a level with telling fond tales of one's rapist."

"Colored or not, we all pick the white man's cotton."

"The Gulf Stream waters of Woody Guthrie's famous song were strung with columns of oil that were several miles long."

"...big as a horse turd floating in a milk shake."Wyatt Dixson"

"When people make a contract with the devil and give him an air-conditioned office to work in, he doesn't go back home easily."

"Money can't buy happiness but it'll sure keep a mess of grief off your front porch."

"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."

"Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work."

"I used to save all my rejection slips because I told myself, one day I'm going to autograph these and auction them. And then I lost the box."

"There's nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself."