Donna Tartt quotes

Not quite what one expected, but once it happened one realized it couldn't be any other way. (Donna Tartt)
Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. View quote
Donna Tartt
Sometimes you can do all the right things and not succeed. And that's a hard lesson of reality. View quote
Donna Tartt
It is is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially. View quote
Donna Tartt
I had the epiphany that laughter was light, and light was laughter, and that this was the secret of the universe. View quote
Donna Tartt
Caring too much for objects can destroy you. Only-if you care for a thing enough, it takes on a life of its own, doesn't it? And isn't the whole point of things-beautiful things-that they connect you to some larger beauty? View quote
Donna Tartt
Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming. View quote
Donna Tartt
In short: I felt my existence was tainted, in some subtle but essential way. View quote
Donna Tartt
I suppose the shock of recognition is one of the nastiest shocks of all. View quote
Donna Tartt
I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell. View quote
Donna Tartt
Taking on challenging projects is the way that one grows and extends one's range as a writer, one's technical command, so I consider the time well-spent. (Donna Tartt)
Children love secret club houses. They love secrecy even when there's no need for secrecy. View quote
Donna Tartt
Anything is grand if it's done on a large enough scale. View quote
Donna Tartt
After all, the appeal to stop being yourself, even for a little while, is very great. View quote
Donna Tartt
Everything takes me longer than I expect. It's the sad truth about life. View quote
Donna Tartt
Who was it said that coincidence was just God's way of remaining anonymous? View quote
Donna Tartt
Sometimes it's about playing a poor hand well. View quote
Donna Tartt
The first duty of the novelist is to entertain. It is a moral duty. People who read your books are sick, sad, traveling, in the hospital waiting room while someone is dying. Books are written by the alone for the alone. View quote
Donna Tartt
A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don't get to choose our own hearts. We can't make ourselves want what's good for us or what's good for other people. We don't get to choose the people we are. View quote
Donna Tartt
I'd rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones. View quote
Donna Tartt
Stay away from the ones you love too much. Those are the ones who will kill you. (Donna Tartt)
Any action, in the fullness of time, sinks to nothingness. View quote
Donna Tartt
I believe, in a funny way, the job of the novelist is to be out there on the fringes and speaking for an experience that has not really been spoken for. View quote
Donna Tartt
Even if it meant that she had failed, she was glad. And if what she'd wanted had been impossible from the start, still there was a certain lonely comfort in the fact that she'd known it was impossible and had gone ahead and done it anyway. View quote
Donna Tartt
I've written only two novels, but they're both long ones, and they each took a decade to write. View quote
Donna Tartt