Guess quote

John Burdett [1951-0] British

Rank: 110
Novelist

John Patrick Burdett is a British crime novelist. He is the bestselling author of Bangkok 8 and its sequels, Bangkok Tattoo, Bangkok Haunts,The Godfather of Kathmandu, and Vulture Peak.

Amazing, Attitude, Imagination, Money

Quote	Tags	Rank
It is quite amazing how hard the subconscious works when it is made to understand that this life is not a rehearsal, there is no safety net and no assurance of any final closure. It is also quite appalling to realize how catatonic the imagination can become when we hedge our bets, opt for the safer direction at every fork in the path.	Amazing, Imagination	101
I think it is immensely difficult to get the U.S. interested in non-U.S. topics. I don't think this is because the average American reader is disinterested, but more because of publishers playing it safe: if a thriller based in L.A. is a sure winner, why spend money plugging one based in Paris - or Bangkok?	Money	102
In essence, the Thai people are not materialistic at all. They're not in the least driven by the kind of ambition that drives us. The more I got to know them, and the more time I spent with them, the more I understood that this was a totally legitimate attitude to life, and why not?	Attitude	103
I discovered that Thailand was one of those countries, like Sri Lanka and India, where memory of past lives used to be commonplace. Go back a few generations, and you find people talking about earlier lives with total certainty.		104
'Shun security,' I advise aspiring novelists when they complain to me that they are stuck. 'Get disoriented. Maybe your agonizing writing block isn't agonizing enough. Your enemy is comfort.'		105
In Southeast Asia the world is understood to be a vast, complex network of interdependent relationships. So when global capitalism makes it impossible for small-time rice farmers to feed their families and make a living, it is a natural thing for anyone in the family who can find an alternative source of income to do so.		106
There are plenty of brilliant people who are too stressed out to read challenging literary novels.		107
Las Vegas is the expression, in glitter and concrete, of America's brittle and mutating id.		108
Expecting to be wrong about most things most of the time brings, finally, the kind of humility that leads to peace. I think.		109
If the world is telling you you're successful, but you don't feel it, you might as well have failed.		110
The world other than as advertised can be an amazing place.		111
To a Buddhist, contradictions only exist in a mind that has been forced to cultivate them.		112
In the West, we've lost our intuitive understanding of how poverty shapes thinking.		113
I'm fascinated by Buddhism. I adore Buddhism, and I read about it all the time, but I haven't formally become a Buddhist, although I don't really know why I haven't. I guess I feel I don't need to.		114
Just studying Buddhism, then meditating and going to Buddhist monasteries, talking to Buddhist monks, combined with the Thai people themselves, changed the way I look at the world.		115

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