John Burley > Quotes

“The past is what imprisons us. There are some things in this world that can never be undone. But they can be faced. They can be forgiven. And if we hold on to that, then there is a chance for us. A chance that someday. . .we will be free.”
― John Burley, The Forgetting Place

“He is perhaps fifteen—not truly a young man yet, but certainly well on his way—and he walks with the energy and indifference of one who possesses the luxury of youth but not yet the experience to appreciate its value or evanescence.”
― John Burley, The Absence of Mercy

“eyes cannot see what the mind does not know.”
― John Burley, The Absence of Mercy

“The worst kind of loneliness, I think, is to be in the presence of those you love and have them treat you like you aren't there.”
― John Burley, The Forgetting Place

“People live their whole lives for someday down-the-road, and eventually there is no down-the-road left.”
― John Burley, The Absence of Mercy

“[...] the reason we do not trust one another is because we do not trust ourselves. We know all too well what we are capable of.”
― John Burley, The Forgetting Place

“It is not a forgotten place, but it is a place for forgetting - the crimes committed by its patients settling into the dust like the gradual deterioration of the buildings themselves.”
― John Burley, The Forgetting Place

“leg in an amputee. Over the centuries, medical treatment had become quite adept at fixing parts of the body that were broken: a shattered bone, or even a shattered mind;”
― John Burley, The Absence of Mercy

“Every day there are countless reasons why it’s not a good day to write. Ignore those reasons and write anyway. Inspiration seldom visits a quiet keyboard.”
― John Burley

“farther into a fetal position. Lynn wrapped”
― John Burley, The Absence of Mercy

“That’s your first helping,” his father responded.”
― John Burley, The Absence of Mercy

“De ogen kunnen niet zien wat het verstand niet weet.' Met andere woorden: als je niet aan een bepaalde ziekte denkt zal je de symptomen niet herkennen.”
― John Burley

“Met andere woorden: als je niet aan een bepaalde ziekte denkt zal je de symptomen nier herkennen.”
― John Burley

“We belong to our past, each of us serving it in our own way, and to break the tether between that time and the present is to risk shattering ourselves in the process.”
― John Burley, The Forgetting Place

“The next morning, the earth was strewn with debris from the windstorm the night before. An audience of trees looked down on severed limbs cast about the ground, their hunched and beaten postures reminding me of a congregation of amputees gathered in the wake of a war.”
― John Burley

“Met andere woordem: als je niet aan een bepaalde ziekte denkt, zul je de symptomen niet herkennen.”
― John Burley

“She kept her other hand tucked into the front pocket of her hoodie, self-conscious of the two prosthetic fingers, despite the meticulous attention the plastic surgeon had paid to their aesthetic appearance.”
― John Burley, The Absence of Mercy