Quotes by John Burdett

About John Burdett:

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. His most recent novel in this series, Vulture Peak, was released on 10 January 2012.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I am moonlighting for the Buddha.

John Burdett

You don't understand. I only prostitute the part of the body that isn't important, and nobody suffers except my karma a little bit. I don't do big harm. You prostitute your mind. Mind is seat of Buddha. What you do is very very bad. You should not us...

John Burdett

Farang, I'll bet you Wall Street against a Thai mango he'll be back, if for no other reason than to play the card of virile youth against Hudson's superior rank and thus restore his ego after that humiliating reprimand.

John Burdett

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 legitima...

John Burdett

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...

John Burdett

The world other than as advertised can be an amazing place.

John Burdett

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 any...

John Burdett

If the world is telling you you're successful, but you don't feel it, you might as well have failed.

John Burdett

'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.'

John Burdett

There are plenty of brilliant people who are too stressed out to read challenging literary novels.

John Burdett

Las Vegas is the expression, in glitter and concrete, of America's brittle and mutating id.

John Burdett

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.

John Burdett

To a Buddhist, contradictions only exist in a mind that has been forced to cultivate them.

John Burdett

In the West, we've lost our intuitive understanding of how poverty shapes thinking.

John Burdett

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.

John Burdett

The great weakness of the West is that it has nothing with which to inspire loyalty except wealth. But what is wealth? Another washing machine, a bigger car, a nicer house to live in? Not much to feed the spirit in all that.

John Burdett

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.

John Burdett

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,...

John Burdett

Expecting to be wrong about most things most of the time brings, finally, the kind of humility that leads to peace. I think.

John Burdett

Author Bio

  • NameJohn Burdett
  • DescriptionBritish crime novelist
  • BornJuly 24, 1951
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionAuthor; Jurist