John Burnside Quotes

The only thing I pray for is the strength to go out without complaining.

I broke my back, I broke my ankle. I didn't cry then.

I'm a real man. I can suffer.

Ask for a valiant heart which has banished the fear of death, which looks upon length of days as one of the least of nature's gifts; which is able to suffer every kind of hardship, is proof against anger, craves for nothing, and reckons the trials and gruelling labours of Hercules as more desirable blessings than the amorous ease and the banquets and cushions of Sardanapallus. The things that I recommend you can grant to yourself.

My father, Philip Fisher, was the toughest guy I ever knew. An example: He had terrible teeth, yet he got his fillings done without ever using a painkiller. Now, that's tough!

There is one thing I can say about working in a steel mill. If it does not kill you, it will make a man out of you.

The first two months were painful and they really tested my manhood because there were times I didn’t want to get up because I was in pain. That willpower has to kick in.

Men had taken greater blows: that was what made a man a man. For did they not say that a man is like a funeral ram which must take whatever beating comes to it without opening its mouth; that the silent tremor of pain down its body alone must tell of its suffering?

Know how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong.

Life asks not merely what you can do; it asks how much can you endure and not be spoiled.

It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile.

To learn patience is not to rebel against every hardship.

It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.

I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.

Patience is the support of weakness; impatience the ruin of strength.

The troubles of our proud and angry dust are from eternity, and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale.

As a young child, I was never a crier. I never cried to get my way, or even when I was in pain.

Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.

Pain is weakness leaving the body,

It's not who's the best - it's who can take the most pain.

I've been through worst, seen worst.

The only thing I know how to do is survive.

I think I'm incredibly stoic. If I have a bad headache, it takes a while before I reach for a tablet.

Entrepreneurship is enduring pain for a long time without relinquishing.

It takes a certain level of maturity to get hit and get knocked down and get back up.