Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work.
James Lee BurkeRead
I sometimes subscribe to the belief that all historical events occur simultaneously, like a dream in the mind of God. Perhaps it is only man who views time sequentially and tries to impose a solar calendar upon it. What if other people, both dead and unborn, are living out their lives in the same space we occupy, without our knowledge or consent?" The Glass Rainbow, p. 138
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of time and existence, suggesting that all moments coexist simultaneously rather than sequentially.
In this thought-provoking quote, James Lee Burke explores the concept of time as a fluid construct rather than a linear progression, proposing that historical events and lives of individuals might exist concurrently in a shared space. This perspective challenges the conventional understanding of time, suggesting that it is humanity's limited perception that creates the illusion of sequences, while all experiences and lives could be unfolding simultaneously, creating a profound connection between the past, present, and future.
Themes
TimeExistencePhilosophySimultaneityReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on the nature of time, this quote can be used to illustrate alternative perspectives.
More from James Lee Burke
All quotes →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.
James Lee BurkeRead
It has been my experience that most human stories are circular rather than linear. Regardless of the path we choose, we somehow end up where we commenced - in part, I suspect, because the child who lives in us goes along for the ride.
James Lee BurkeRead
In the alluvial sweep of the land, I thought I could see the past and the present and the future all at once, as though time were not sequential in nature but took place without a beginning or an end, like a flash of green light rippling outward from the center of creation, not unlike a dream inside the mind of God.
James Lee BurkeRead
Humility is not a virtue in a writer, it is an absolute necessity.
James Lee BurkeRead
I believe every...man remembers the girl he thinks he should have married. She reappears to him in his lonely moments, or he sees her in the face of a young girl in the park, buying a snowball under an oak tree by the baseball diamond. But she belongs to back there, to somebody else, and that thought sometimes rends your heart in a way that you never share with anyone else.
James Lee BurkeRead
Similar quotes
War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.
Karl KrausRead
Lies are infinite in number, and the truth so small and singular.
Barbara KingsolverRead
I suffer from life and from other people. I can’t look at reality face to face. Even the sun discourages and depresses me. Only at night and all alone, withdrawn, forgotten and lost, with no connection to anything real or useful — only then do I find myself and feel comforted.
Fernando PessoaRead
Poor intricated soul! Riddling, perplexed, labyrinthical soul!
John DonneRead
The world is only tolerable because of the empty places in it...when the world's filled up, we'll have to get hold of a star. Any star. Venus, or Mars. Get hold of it and leave it empty. Man needs an empty space somewhere for his spirit to rest in.
Doris LessingRead
The stone that was rolled before Christ's tomb might appropriately be called the philosopher's stone because its removal gave not only the pharisees but, now for 1800 years, the philosophers so much to think about.
Soren KierkegaardRead