Quotes about burning
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“The fire, baby. It'll burn us both. There's no place in this world for our kind of fire. My warrior woman. My valkyrie. You'll always be mine. Always. And never.”

Frank Miller book The Big Fat Kill

Source: The Big Fat Kill

World, Baby

“Someone tells me: this kind of love is not viable. But how can you evaluate viability? Why is the viable a Good Thing? Why is it better to last than to burn?”

Roland Barthes book A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

Source: A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

Love

“All I could think of when I got a look at the place from the outside was what fun it would be to stand out there and watch it burn down.”

Shirley Jackson book The Haunting of Hill House

Source: The Haunting of Hill House

Thinking

“Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.”

James Joyce book Dubliners

"Araby"
Source: Dubliners (1914)

Anger

“I am fading away. Slowly but surely. Like the sailor who watches his home shore gradually disappear, I watch my past recede. My old life still burns within me, but more and more of it is reduced to the ashes of memory.”

Jean-Dominique Bauby book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Source: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Life, Home, Memory, Past

“When you've burned the bridges behind you, don't go starting a fire on the one in front of you.”

Steven Erikson book The Bonehunters

Source: The Bonehunters

“My parabatai, he loved like few ever could love, with all and everything. I see you are like that too; it burns more brightly in you than the fire of Heaven.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Love

“Oh, I'm burning! I wish I were out of doors. I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free, and laughing at injuries, not maddening under them! Why am I so changed?”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Catherine Earnshaw (Ch. XII).
Variant: I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free; and laughing at injuries, not maddening under them! Why am I so changed? why does my blood rush into a hell of tumult at a few words?
Source: Wuthering Heights (1847)

Girl, Change

“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 (1953), Coda (1979)
Context: There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist/Unitarian, Irish/Italian/Octogenarian/Zen Buddhist, Zionist/Seventh-day Adventist, Women's Lib/Republican, Mattachine/FourSquareGospel feels it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse. Every dimwit editor who sees himself as the source of all dreary blanc-mange plain porridge unleavened literature, licks his guillotine and eyes the neck of any author who dares to speak above a whisper or write above a nursery rhyme.

People, Books, World, Way

“Ragnor's important business was probably getting together to write a burn book with Raphael. Magnus could see them now, sharing a bench and scribbling happily away about Magnus's stupid hair.”

Cassandra Clare The Bane Chronicles

Source: The Bane Chronicles

Books, Stupidity, Business

“He was like a shooting star you tried to catch with your hands. She would only get burned.”

Melissa de la Cruz (1971) American writer

Source: Lost in Time

Star

“Wow. What'd he do to deserve that? Rescue orphans from a burning building? If so, you might want to make sure he didn't set the building on fire in the first place.”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

“When I look at the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes!”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Future

“Ya got cigarettes?” she asks. “Yes,” I say,
“I got cigarettes.” “Matches?” she asks.
“Enough to burn Rome.” “Whiskey?”
“Enough whiskey for a Mississippi River
of pain.” “You drunk?” “Not yet.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Pain

“His own voice was older than he was. Ancient, unearthed from some mystical subterranean place… The voice seemed to make his whole body ache. Maybe it made him bleed inside. I wondered if it hurt, if it burned in his throat.”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

Hurt

“great men burn bridges before they come to them”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Men

“I ran. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid. Then I ran some more.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“The joy I feel is immense; it burns inside me as though I have swallowed a piece of the sun.”

Edith Pattou book East

Source: East

Feeling, Sun, Joy

“(Sookie's Thoughts on Debbie Pelt) she had been cruel to Alcide, insulted me grievously, burned a hole in my favorite wrap and—oh—tried to kill me by proxy. Also, she had stupid hair.”

Charlaine Harris book Dead to the World

Source: Dead to the World

Stupidity

“Wisdom's daughter walks alone,
The mark of Athena burns through Rome.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Wisdom, Daughters

“Where the bright seraphim in burning row
Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow.”

John Milton (1608–1674) English epic poet

At a Solemn Music
Source: The Complete Poetry

Angels

“Here I am
leaving you clues. I am singing now while Rome
burns. We are all just trying to be holy. My applejack,
my silent night, just mash your lips against me.
We are all going forward. None of us are going back.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

Singing, Night

“Manuscripts don't burn.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'The Liberation of the Master', B/O
Variant: Manuscripts don't burn.
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)

“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.”

W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American New Thought author

Feeling

“It's just me throwing myself at you,
romance as usual, us times us,

not lust but moxibustion,
a substance burning close

to the body as possible
without risk of immolation.”

Alice Fulton (1952) American poet

Time

“The small wad of burning paper drew down to a wisp of flame and then died out leaving a faint pattern for just a moment in the incandescence like the shape of a flower, a molten rose. Then all was dark again.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

Flowers

“Why can't I write something that would awake the dead? That pursuit is what burns most deeply.”

Patti Smith Just Kids

Source: Just Kids

Dead

“I’ve had a tense couple of days. And I’ve got to tell you, burning someone’s face off sounds like a great way to relax.”

Jim Butcher book Small Favor

Source: Small Favor

Way

“When you have been burned by fire once, you don't leap into the flames again.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) Welsh poet and writer

" Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=92" (1952) Source: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Age, Light, Rage, Night

“Brilliantly, ecstatically, irrepressibly. This is the way to burn”

Tom Robbins book Still Life with Woodpecker

Source: Still Life with Woodpecker (1980)
Context: "This is the way to burn," the fuse seemed to be saying to the more docile, slow-witted candlewick. "Brilliantly, ecstatically, irrepressibly. This is the way to burn."

Way

“Get on fire for God and men will come and see you burn.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

Men, God

“Violence up close has a smell. Like copper blood and charcoal burning.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

“I shall think of you
Whenever I am most happy, whenever I am Most sad, whenever I see a beautiful thing.
You are a burning lamp to me, a flame
The wind cannot blow out, and I shall hold you High in my hand against whatever darkness.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Source: Collected Poems

Happiness, Sadness, Beauty, Thinking

“Where they burn books, at the end they also burn people”

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic

Almansor: A Tragedy (1823), as translated in True Religion (2003) by Graham Ward, p. 142
Variant translations:
Wherever books are burned, men in the end will also burn.
Where they burn books, at the end they also burn people.
Where they burn books, they will also burn people.
It is there, where they burn books, that eventually they burn people.
Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings.
Where they burn books, they also burn people.
Them that begin by burning books, end by burning men.
Variant: Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.

People, Books

“How does it taste?” Carter wondered.
Zia smiled. “Stick out your tongue.”
To answer Carter’s question, the tattoo tasted like burning car tires.
“Ugh.” I spit a blue gob of “order and harmony” into the fountain.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Smile, Cars, Question, Tattoo

“Tally turned away. Five minutes was suddenly too long to stand here, eyes burning, unable to cry.”

Scott Westerfeld book Specials

Source: Specials

Cry

“the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Star

“You know what they say: When people start burning books they'll soon burn human beings.”

Cornelia Funke Inkheart trilogy

Source: Inkheart

People, Books

“The summer movies are coming out. My advice: just stay home and burn a good book.”

Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor

Books, Home, Summer

“She could understand suddenly why people talked about passion as fire: She felt as if they had caught aflame and were burning like the dry Malibu hills, about to become ashes that would mix together forever.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

People, Understanding, Passion

“The words with which a child's heart is poisoned, whether through malice or through ignorance, remain branded in his memory, and sooner or later they burn his soul.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

Soul, Memory, Heart

“We burned not a home, but a symbol.
We burned a symbol to the ground.”

E. Lockhart book We Were Liars

Source: We Were Liars

Home

“There's things that happen in a person's life that are so scorched in the memory and burned into the heart that there's no forgetting them.”

John Boyne (1971) Irish novelist, author of children's and youth fiction

Life, Memory, Heart, Personality

“In that moment, he chose Greek. He threw in his lot with Camp Half-Blood-and the horses changed. The storm clouds inside burned away, leaving nothing but red dust and shimmering heat, like mirages on the Sahara.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Change, Horse

“It is not so much light that falls
over the world
extended by your body
its suffocating snow,
as brightness, pouring itself out of you,
as if you were
burning inside.

Under your skin the moon is alive.”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Source: oda a la bella desnuda y otros escritos de amor

World, Light

“Because I live in the real world where vampires burn in the sun.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

World, Sun

“And if my heart be scarred and burned,
The safer, I, for all I learned.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Source: Sunset Gun: Poems

Learning, Heart

“We’re burning,” Sadie pointed out helpfully.
“Noticed!” I yelled back.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“Compassionate love may be strong. It sobs, it burns, then it wipes away its tears – and it does nothing.”

Alexander Herzen (1812–1870) Russian author

Love, Tear, Strong

“Your lifeline… oh, the burning stick. Right." Leo resisted the urge to set his hand ablaze and yell: BWAH HA HA!”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

“I told you, Ms. Lane, never believe anything is dead-"
"- I know, I know, until you've 'burned it, poked around in its ashes, and then waited a day or two to see if anything rises from them.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Variant: Don't celebrate yet, Ms. Lane. Don't believe anything is dead until you've burned it, poked around in its ashes, and then waited a day or two to see if anything rises from them.
Source: Bloodfever

Waiting, Dead

“These too are of a burning color--not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

Color

“I want him to burn for me, to not be able to go a day without touching me, holding me, caressing me. He’ll be an excellent lover. I want a man who knows how to please me”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: The Tycoon's Rebel Bride

Lovers

“Every time we burn a gallon of gas or an acre of rain forest, aren't we killing the future to preserve the present?”

Chuck Palahniuk book Choke

Source: Choke

Time, Future

“What kind of thoughtless creep would burn a book?”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Books

“The light of truth burns without a flicker in the depths of a house that is shaken with storms of passion and fear.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

Truth, Fear, Light, Passion

“those times i burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. we all burn things we love. i love my guitar”

Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) American musician, singer and songwriter

Love, Time

“Mo Nighean donn," he whispered," mo chridhe. My brown lass, my heart."
Come to me. Cover me. Shelter me. a bhean, heal me. Burn with me, as I burn for you.”

Diana Gabaldon book The Fiery Cross

Source: The Fiery Cross

Heart

“Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things. They burn your tongue the moment they're spoken and you can never take them back.”

Alice Hoffman book The Ice Queen

Source: The Ice Queen

“At the moment when her eyes closed, when all feeling vanished in her, she thought that she felt a touch of fire imprinted on her lips, a kiss more burning than the red-hot iron of the executioner.”

Victor Hugo book The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Source: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Feeling, Kiss

“Yep, Atlanta was burning. Again.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

“You are ice and fire
The touch of you burns my hands like snow”

Amy Lowell (1874–1925) US writer

“Success in life is to maintain this ecstasy, to burn always with this hard gemlike flame.”

Tom Stoppard The Invention of Love

Source: The Invention of Love

Life, Success

“Oh, Lord!" This must be what it's like to make love in Hell," he whispered. "With a burning she-devil.”

Diana Gabaldon book Voyager

Source: Voyager

Love, Making love, Hell

“Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

“Space echoes like an immense tomb, yet the stars still burn. Why does the sun take so long to die?”

Nick Land (1962) British philosopher

Source: The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism (1992), Chapter 5: "Dead God", p. 60 (original emphasis)
Context: God is nowhere to be found, yet there is still so much light! Light that dazzles and maddens; crisp, ruthless light. Space echoes like an immense tomb, yet the stars still burn. Why does the sun take so long to die? Or the moon retain such fidelity to the Earth? Where is the new darkness? The greatest of all unknowings? Is death itself shy of us?

Star, Sun

“How well I know with what burning intensity you live. You have experienced many lives already, including several you have shared with me- full rich lives from birth to death, and you just have to have these rest periods in between.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Death, Birth

“So, have a little fun. Soon enough you'll be dead and burning in Hell with the rest of your family.”

George Carlin book Brain Droppings

Source: Brain Droppings

Family, Hell, Dead

“… there are some children who aren't really children at all, they're just pillars of flame that burn everything they touch. And there are some children who are just pillars of ash, that fall apart when you touch them…”

Sherman Alexie (1966) Native American author and filmmaker

Source: Smoke Signals: A Screenplay

Children

“The Order of Merciful Aid provided merciful aid, usually on the edge of a blade or the burn of a bullet.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

“We are so busy constantly checking our own temperatures, we fail to notice the burning fevers of others.”

Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader

Business

“Can he love her? Can the soul really be satisfied with such polite affections? To love is to burn - to be on fire, like Juliet or Guinevere or Eloise…”

Emma Thompson (1959) British actress and writer

Source: The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film

Love, Soul

“Cherish the people who make up your home, and you'll notice the hearth fires burn brighter than ever before.”

Thomas Kinkade (1958–2012) American painter of popular realistic, bucolic, and idyllic subjects

People, Home

“Vengeance burns, Torak." said Fin-Kedinn as the river bore him away. "It burns your heart. It makes the pain worse. Dont let that happen to you.”

Michelle Paver book Oath Breaker

Source: Oath Breaker

Pain, Heart

“Only the foolish, blinded by language's conventions, think of fire as red or gold. Fire is blue at it's melancholy rim, green in it's envious heart. It may burn white, or even, in it's greatest rages, black.”

Salman Rushdie (1947) British Indian novelist and essayist

Thinking, Rage, Heart

“The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.”

David Russell (1953) Scottish classical guitarist

Life, Learning

“Time is the school in which we learn,
Time is the fire in which we burn.”

Delmore Schwartz (1913–1966) American poet

"Calmly We Walk Through This April's Day" ( full text online http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/calmly-we-walk-through-this-april-s-day/); this poem has also been printed under the title "For Rhoda" Selected Poems: Summer Knowledge (1959) Context: Each minute bursts in the burning room, The great globe reels in the solar fire, Spinning the trivial and unique away. (How all things flash! How all things flare!) What am I now that I was then? May memory restore again and again The smallest color of the smallest day: Time is the school in which we learn, Time is the fire in which we burn.

School, Learning, Time