Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Anna Burns

Quote by Anna Burns

“It broke the bounds of credibility, said the news, but lots of things in life break bounds of credibility. Breaking credibility, I was coming to understand, seemed to be what life was about.”

Quote by Anna Burns

Book:Milkman
Create image

Work

Milkman

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Anna Burns

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Anna Burns. more

You May Also Like

“Some of us feel as if we’re outsiders. People occasionally talk about us in hushed tones, whispering that we’re a bit of a lone wolf, or at times a loose cannon. They don’t want to say it to our faces because every now and again we can be a little bit unpredictable. But they look at us with a strange curiosity, because in comparison – although they’re often very successful at ‘fitting in’ – they lead lives that are drab, dreary and monotonous. They’re not unruly like the Carefree Scamps. We have a divine spark of unruliness within us. And it’s that unruliness which has kept us young.”

OutsidersAgeingUnrulyAgeing WellUnruliness
Book:Wrong Planet - Searching for your Tribe
Create image

“His sadistic attitude is allied with a desire for self-abasement which in my opinion constitutes the very foundation of his character: he knows that it is dangerous to stand out and that his behavior irritates society, but nevertheless he seeks and attracts persecution and scandal. It is the only way he can establish a more vital relationship with the society he is antagonizing. As a victim, he can occupy a place in the world that previously ignored him; as a delinquent, he can become one of its wicked heroes… [He] is impassive and contemptuous, allowing all these contradictory impressions to accumulate around him until finally, with a certain painful satisfaction, he sees them explode into a tavern fight or a raid by the police or a riot. And then, in suffering persecution, he becomes his true self, his supremely naked self, as a pariah, a man who belongs nowhere. The circle that began with provocation has completed itself and he is ready now for redemption, for his entrance into the society that rejected him.”

ViolenceRacismMexicoOutsidersStereotypesPariah
Book:The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings
Create image

“Social media is the supreme triumph of the commonplace, the undiluted voice of the commonplace, the perfect means of viral transmission of the commonplace. All excellence is tracked down and exterminated. The commonplace infects everything. It grows like weeds everywhere and strangles all beautiful, exceptional flowers. All tall poppies are all cut down.”

ExcellenceSocial MediaMediocrityOutsidersPopularityCancel CultureTall Poppies
Book:The Mandarin Effect: The Crisis of Meaning
Create image