James Lee Burke

“He had been humiliated and treated like the white trash he was. Under the bedsheet that hides the identity of every Ku…

— James Lee Burke

“Wars of enormous importance are fought in places nobody cares about.”

— James Lee Burke

“...young people...who were casually profane, as though the validation of their own power could be achieved only by their assault on the…

— James Lee Burke

“Did you ever see a mob rush across town to do a good deed?" Dave Robicheaux”

— James Lee Burke

“There's another way to put it. Sometimes your luck runs out and you have to accept that the life you planned was…

— James Lee Burke

“How do you handle it when your anger brims over the edge of the pot? You use the shortened version of the…

— James Lee Burke

Is there a design in the events of our lives? Or do things just happen, much like a junk yard falling down…

— James Lee Burke

In that moment, when watches and clocks misbehave and you feel a cold vapor wrap itself around your heart, you unconsciously draw…

— James Lee Burke

We gain no wisdom by imposing our way on others.

— James Lee Burke

If you put somebody on a crack pipe and give them a 9 mm Baretta, you don't have to be a rocket…

— James Lee Burke

If we break promises to God, shouldn't we be allowed an occasional violation of our word to our friends and superiors?

— James Lee Burke

“Sometimes he comes to me in my dreams, and I wonder if ironically all our stories were written on his skin back…

— James Lee Burke

“You’ve got another problem. Like most white trash, you’re disrespectful to your betters and proud of your stupidity and ignorance.”

— James Lee Burke

When you find the right people, you never let go. The people who count are the ones who are your friends in…

— James Lee Burke

It has been my experience that most human stories are circular rather than linear. Regardless of the path we choose, we somehow…

— James Lee Burke

“Through the screen, he could smell the evening as though it were a living presence, the purple and yellow flowers in his…

— James Lee Burke

“Then I saw the consuming nature of her fear, her willingness to believe that exploitative charlatans could change her fate or really…

— James Lee Burke

“It was the poem that explained the nature of courage and turned the mystery of death into a heroic couplet. Ultimately, it…

— James Lee Burke

“Death was a rodent that ate its way inch by inch through your entrails, chewed at your liver and stomach, severed tendon…

— James Lee Burke