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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Humility is not a virtue in a writer, it is an absolute necessity.
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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.
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