121 Quotes by John Burnside

The trick and the beauty of language is that it seems to order the whole universe, misleading us into believing that we live in sight of a rational space, a possible harmony.

This is the nature of social existence. We talk in order to impose limits, to contain the world in a narrow frame.

Betrug und Schönheit der Sprache bestehen darin, dass sie das ganze Universum zu ordnen scheint und uns zu der Annahme verführt, wir lebten in Anbetracht eines rationalen Raumes, einer möglichen Harmonie. Doch da Wörter uns von der Gegenwart distanzieren, weshalb wir niemals ganz der Realität der Dinge habhaft werden, machen sie die Vergangenheit zur absoluten Fiktion.

That's the wonderful thing with nerds: they're enthusiasts. Not having a life means you get to love things with a passion and nobody bothers you about it.

Non avevo mai avuto l'impressione di crescere all'ombra di mia madre: vivevo nel mio mondo, uno spazio di cui lei aveva delimitato i confini, lasciandomi però libera di riempirlo come meglio credevo. Mia madre viveva come aveva scelto di vivere, e sapevo che il lavoro era la cosa che contava di più per lei, ma questo consentiva anche a me di vivere come volevo e di decidere liberamente cosa contava di più per me...

I have always been suspicious of the phrase, the glow of pregnancy, and my suspicions were only confirmed by Lillian's appearance. Instead of a glow, her whole body seemed to become more and more dull, sallow and sickly sweet and vague, like a candle burning out or a line of smudged writing.

The definition of a page-turner really aught to be that this page is so good, you can't bear to leave it behind, but then the next page is there and it might be just as amazing as this one.

انسان‌ها تنها گونه‌ی حیوانات‌اند که حاضرند به قیمت شکست برای پیروزی بجنگند.

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.