In his words
Jonathan Anthony Burkett quotes
Sayings from his memoir, his novels and his life. Share any of them in one tap; every one carries his name.
Signature sayings
Words he lives by
Faith is why I’m here today and faith is why I made it through.
You know my name, not my story. You’ve heard what I’ve done, but not what I’ve been through.
Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond who you were.
Faith doesn’t get you around problems in life and relationships, it gets you through it.
It’s better to have a few faithful friends than numerous shallow friendships.
Look for the heart in a man before you look at what he has.
I live to inspire, not start the fire.
— Jonathan Anthony Burkett
Browse by theme
Theme
Faith
I ask only this of You Father, no more loss, please. I couldn’t survive losing this love.
Father God, I don’t know what to ask you for. So I’m just going to ask you to be in this car.
Let your Heavenly Father handle this. Remember, sacrifice is what earns blessings in this life.
Keep being faithful and true to her—that’s how a true man should remain for the love of his life.
Life is so weird, and I can’t wait for my questions to be answered by him one day.
Thank you for her. Thank you for another chance. Help me deserve it this year.
She lost love and her faith, but then she found someone who restored it.
You never know what kind of blessing a child will bring to your life.
Problems come, night and day, for many people—and so do blessings.
You do have a sense of humor. I just wish You’d explain the jokes.
Thank You for this girl. Thank You for five whole years of her.
Theme
Strength
The rougher the road, the better the opportunities waiting at the other end.
A person who endures hardship and still chooses what’s right becomes strong.
I didn’t choose it. I chose to survive it. Those are not the same thing.
Never give up. Never let the world grind you down. Stay strong-minded. Hold on to hope, especially when it feels impossible.
Waiting for somebody to come, and then, when nobody did, learning to come for other people.
So you go out there and you fight the fight that’s in front of you. Not the one in your head.
You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to understand it. You just have to show up.
I just want it on the record that I’m not afraid of him anymore, and I’m not ashamed.
Theme
Love
A real man is never scared to express himself to a woman, no matter what the answer may be.
Don’t let someone else touch what’s already yours. You might end up breaking your own heart.
If what we had was truly strong and meant to be, I wouldn’t feel this insecure.
A real man shouldn’t need lessons from another man on how to love someone.
There isn’t going to be a good day. There’s just days.
Nowadays too many people rush into relationships, not knowing anything about that person.
I want her to see that there are some decent men out there, and she doesn’t have to settle.
I’d rather have a man who pays more attention to my heart than to my materialistic desires.
I don’t try to hide anything from you, but it’s impossible to know everything about someone.
It seems men don’t want to change until after they’ve experienced emotional heartbreak.
When you love someone, even secretly, seeing them that close with somebody else… that hurts.
Same hands, fixing and fighting. Didn’t know any other way to hold a thing but tight.
Theme
Family
I didn’t understand before how precious a family’s love really is, how irreplaceable it is.
No hiding inside this family. Privacy outside it.
You do know it’s better for family to be there for each other in these kinds of situations?
My wonderful family — they’re the ones that inspire me to work hard and provide for them.
Sometimes the only thing to do with a moment like that is to put a plate in front of it.
I want her to see that nobody who loved her tried to destroy anybody else who loved her.
This child has two families who love her. The only way she loses is if they make her choose.
Every time this family hides something, somebody gets hurt worse than the thing we were hiding.
In this one life that we live, Lord, You gave us people who didn’t have to come, and came anyway.
It’s a house where somebody waited for your daddy. That’s close enough to a castle.
It is just a person who keeps showing up, and that may be the strongest tie of all.
Theme
Forgiveness
I don’t forgive you. But I’m done carrying you.
You need to choose life over vengeance. Learn from what happened instead of letting it chain you.
Because as long as you were the one apologizing, I got to be the one who forgave.
But I don’t accept you. Not back. Not again. You understand the difference?
You always say you’re sorry for your mistakes, but you never show remorse.
You did the math with what you had, and you did it to protect a child. That’s not a crime. That’s a mother.
You came late, and you came wrong, and you came on a lie a doctor sold you. But you came. And you kept coming.
Revenge is a fire. Once it catches, it doesn’t care who it burns.
This is as close as he can come. And this is as close as I can.
A family is supposed to have an understanding heart and mind, along with trust and forgiveness. But forgiveness has to be earned.
Theme
Fatherhood
Fighting is when you can’t stop. Boxing is when you know how to.
Any fool can swing, son. Takes a man to know when not to.
I don’t care what I come from. I care where my kids come from. They come from me. So I got to be somebody they can come from.
You can’t apologize to a little girl who watched her daddy put his fist through a wall. Not really. She’ll say okay, Daddy. But she’ll remember.
Whenever you’re ready, just tell me. I’ll be right here waiting, so I can be there for you.
I got in by showing up every Tuesday at four. Even the Tuesdays she didn’t open the door.
Maybe it isn’t subtraction. Maybe nothing has to change. Maybe something has to be added.
You can’t miss a father you never really had. You can’t long for a life you were never given.
I’m proud of you. I don’t say that so you’ll forgive me. I say it because it’s true.
You came for him every day. You weren’t his blood and you came anyway, every day you were alive.
A man told me once nobody ever came for him. I didn’t want you saying it about me.
Theme
Friendship
She’s like a million, trillion diamonds put together in human form.
I’m grateful for the friendship we have, because we’ve always been straight up with each other.
We’ll figure it out. Together. That’s the only rule I’ve got left that works.
Even if we were to break up, I believe we could still be friends.
You sit down next to a person. You let them find the first word.
You and I have both had bad influences around us. However, one of us had a lot of good to go along with it; and that was you.
Sometimes the only thing you do is stay at the table.
Theme
Life
Your silence belongs to you. You don’t have to sell it. Not to him. Not to anybody.
Every moment matters; every year, every day, every second, because we never know how much time we’re given.
Let the money stay in the bank and not in your head.
Everyone has something. Something no one knows.
Some families keep their secrets in the ground.
In this one life that we live, we only get to tell our own story once. I’m telling mine.
The people who mattered were the ones who sat down next to you, not the ones who drove away.
But know that if you don’t talk to me, there’s no way I can be there for you when you need me.
The man who sits on his stool and thinks wins more rounds than the man who comes out swinging.
From his pen
