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Donna Tartt Quotes

...with a grief no less sharp for not being intimate with its object Picture Quote #1

All those layers of silence upon silence Picture Quote #1

Any action, in the fullness of time, sinks to nothingness Picture Quote #1

When I’m writing, I am concentrating almost wholly on concrete detail: the color a room is painted, the way a drop of water rolls off a wet leaf after a rain Picture Quote #1

Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it Picture Quote #1

Shakespearean words, foreign words, slang and dialect and made-up phrases from kids on the street corner: English has room for them all. And writers - not just literary writers, but popular writers as well - breathe air into English and keep it lively by making it their own, not by adhering to some style manual that gets handed out to college Freshmen in a composition class Picture Quote #1

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Even if you need, and want, a second opinion, it can be dangerous to have people telling you what they think you ought to add, or cut, before you’ve even finished telling your story. One loses heart; one loses energy and interest. Or at least I do Picture Quote #1

I’d always rather stand or fall on my own mistakes. There’s nothing worse than looking back, in a published book, at a line edit or a copy edit that you felt queasy about and didn’t want to take, but took anyway Picture Quote #1

Anything is grand if it’s done on a large enough scale Picture Quote #1

... with a grief no less sharp for not being intimate with its object Picture Quote #1

There is to me about this place a smell of rot, the smell of rot that ripe fruit makes. Nowhere, ever, have the hideous mechanics of birth and copulation and death -those monstrous upheavals of life that the Greeks call miasma, defilement- been so brutal or been painted up to look so pretty; have so many people put so much faith in lies and mutability and death death death Picture Quote #1

But the intimacy, the smallness, also made me feel shut out; and I found myself hurrying past the inviting little doorways with my head down, very aware of all the convivial Sunday-morning lives unrolling around me in private Picture Quote #1

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Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs Picture Quote #1

Sometimes it’s about playing a poor hand well Picture Quote #1

The storytelling gift is innate: one has it or one doesn’t. But style is at least partly a learned thing: one refines it by looking and listening and reading and practice - by work Picture Quote #1

The Little Friend is a long book. It’s also completely different from my first novel: different landscape, different characters, different use of language and diction, different approach to story Picture Quote #1

There’s nothing like having a sympathetic reader who asks the right questions, who understands what you’re trying to achieve and only wants to make it better Picture Quote #1

Beauty alters the grain of reality Picture Quote #1

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No money, holes in my socks, living off oatmeal Picture Quote #1

My novels aren’t really generated by a single conceptual spark; it’s more a process of many different elements that come together unexpectedly over a long period of time Picture Quote #1

Actually, I enjoy the process of writing a big long novel Picture Quote #1

Character, to me, is the life’s blood of fiction Picture Quote #1

...as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch Picture Quote #1

. . . is it better to throw yourself head first and laughing into the holy rage calling your name? Picture Quote #1

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I’d rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones Picture Quote #1

Does such a thing as the fatal flaw, that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? Picture Quote #1

Sometimes you can do all the right things and not succeed. And that’s a hard lesson of reality Picture Quote #1

Children have very sharp powers of observation - probably sharper than adults - yet at the same time their emotional reactions are murky and much more primitive Picture Quote #1

The books I loved in childhood - the first loves - I’ve read so often that I’ve internalized them in some really essential way: they are more inside me now than out Picture Quote #1

It seems to me that psychology is only another word for what the ancients called fate Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

...with a grief no less sharp for not being intimate with its object. (Donna Tartt Quotes) All those layers of silence upon silence (Donna Tartt Quotes) Any action, in the fullness of time, sinks to nothingness (Donna Tartt Quotes) When I’m writing, I am concentrating almost wholly on concrete detail: the color a room is painted, the way a drop of water rolls off a wet leaf after a rain. (Donna Tartt Quotes) Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it (Donna Tartt Quotes) Shakespearean words, foreign words, slang and dialect and made-up phrases from kids on the street corner: English has room for them all. And writers - not just literary writers, but popular writers as well - breathe air into English and keep it lively by making it their own, not by adhering to some style manual that gets handed out to college Freshmen in a composition class (Donna Tartt Quotes) Even if you need, and want, a second opinion, it can be dangerous to have people telling you what they think you ought to add, or cut, before you’ve even finished telling your story. One loses heart; one loses energy and interest. Or at least I do (Donna Tartt Quotes) I’d always rather stand or fall on my own mistakes. There’s nothing worse than looking back, in a published book, at a line edit or a copy edit that you felt queasy about and didn’t want to take, but took anyway (Donna Tartt Quotes) Anything is grand if it’s done on a large enough scale (Donna Tartt Quotes) ... with a grief no less sharp for not being intimate with its object (Donna Tartt Quotes) There is to me about this place a smell of rot, the smell of rot that ripe fruit makes. Nowhere, ever, have the hideous mechanics of birth and copulation and death -those monstrous upheavals of life that the Greeks call miasma, defilement- been so brutal or been painted up to look so pretty; have so many people put so much faith in lies and mutability and death death death (Donna Tartt Quotes) But the intimacy, the smallness, also made me feel shut out; and I found myself hurrying past the inviting little doorways with my head down, very aware of all the convivial Sunday-morning lives unrolling around me in private. (Donna Tartt Quotes) Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs (Donna Tartt Quotes) Sometimes it’s about playing a poor hand well (Donna Tartt Quotes) The storytelling gift is innate: one has it or one doesn’t. But style is at least partly a learned thing: one refines it by looking and listening and reading and practice - by work (Donna Tartt Quotes) The Little Friend is a long book. It’s also completely different from my first novel: different landscape, different characters, different use of language and diction, different approach to story (Donna Tartt Quotes) There’s nothing like having a sympathetic reader who asks the right questions, who understands what you’re trying to achieve and only wants to make it better (Donna Tartt Quotes) Beauty alters the grain of reality (Donna Tartt Quotes) No money, holes in my socks, living off oatmeal (Donna Tartt Quotes) My novels aren’t really generated by a single conceptual spark; it’s more a process of many different elements that come together unexpectedly over a long period of time. (Donna Tartt Quotes) Actually, I enjoy the process of writing a big long novel (Donna Tartt Quotes) Character, to me, is the life’s blood of fiction (Donna Tartt Quotes) ...as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch. (Donna Tartt Quotes) . . . is it better to throw yourself head first and laughing into the holy rage calling your name? (Donna Tartt Quotes) I’d rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones (Donna Tartt Quotes) Does such a thing as the fatal flaw, that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? (Donna Tartt Quotes) Sometimes you can do all the right things and not succeed. And that’s a hard lesson of reality. (Donna Tartt Quotes) Children have very sharp powers of observation - probably sharper than adults - yet at the same time their emotional reactions are murky and much more primitive. (Donna Tartt Quotes) The books I loved in childhood - the first loves - I’ve read so often that I’ve internalized them in some really essential way: they are more inside me now than out. (Donna Tartt Quotes) It seems to me that psychology is only another word for what the ancients called fate (Donna Tartt Quotes)

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