As I child, I came to this idea with a horrified fascination. Once upon a time, I wasn’t here. Before that, my parents weren’t here. And before that…

John Burnside
About This Quote

The idea that we are not here forever is a terrifying concept. It is the equivalent of being on a merry-go-round that is going faster and faster, and you can see that you will never stop spinning. You can see, and perhaps even feel, that you will never find the way off. And yet you keep moving and moving and moving, until at last you come to a halt.

Source: A Lie About My Father: A Memoir

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More Quotes By John Burnside
  1. All you have to do is choose the right day, the right weather, and you come upon a hidden place in the morning light where time stopped long before you were born
  2. 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.
  3. My father was one of those men who sit in a room and you can feel it: the simmer, the sense of some unpredictable force that might, at any moment, break loose, and do something terrible. [Burnside, p. 27]
  4. As I child, I came to this idea with a horrified fascination. Once upon a time, I wasn’t here. Before that, my parents weren’t here. And before that…
  5. If you had to lose everything, what would you miss most? It wouldn't be anything gross, like the big house, or the fancy car, assuming you had such things. It wouldn't be your impeccable reputation, or fame, or the regard of others. No; if you...
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