I love the tradition of Dickens, where even the most minor walk-on characters are twitching and particular and alive. Donna Tartt More Quotes by Donna Tartt More Quotes From Donna Tartt The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. Donna Tartt melting mountain snow Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming. Donna Tartt contrary genuine 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? Donna Tartt care caring beautiful Stay away from the ones you love too much. Those are the ones who will kill you. Donna Tartt too-much love It happened in New York, April 10th, nineteen years ago. Even my hand balks at the date. I had to push to write it down, just to keep the pen moving on the paper. It used to be a perfectly ordinary day, but now it sticks up on the calendar like a rusty nail. Donna Tartt new-york writing moving I'd rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones. Donna Tartt mediocre writing book I've written only two novels, but they're both long ones, and they each took a decade to write. Donna Tartt writing two long The novel is about five students of classics who are studying with a classics professor, and they take the ideas of the things that they're learning from him a bit too seriously, with terrible consequences. Donna Tartt students literature ideas I had the epiphany that laughter was light, and light was laughter, and that this was the secret of the universe. Donna Tartt laughter light secret Any action, in the fullness of time, sinks to nothingness. Donna Tartt nothingness fullness action The firelight magnified our shadows, glinted off the silver, flickered high upon the walls; its reflection roared orange in the windowpanes as if a city were burning outside. The whoosh of the flames was like a flock of birds, trapped and beating in a whirlwind near the ceiling. And I wouldn't have been at all surprised if the long mahogany banquet table, draped in linen, laden with china and candles and fruit and flowers, had simply vanished into thin air, like a magic casket in a fairy story. Donna Tartt wall flower reflection When you feel homesick,’ he said, ‘just look up. Because the moon is the same wherever you go. Donna Tartt homesick moon looks And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next. Donna Tartt fire beautiful hands As much fun as it is to read a book, writing a book is one level deeper than that. Donna Tartt writing fun book 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 dark running thinking Sometimes we want what we want even if we know it’s going to kill us. Donna Tartt knows want sometimes Being the only female in what was basically a boys’ club must have been difficult for her. Miraculously, she didn’t compensate by becoming hard or quarrelsome. She was still a girl, a slight lovely girl who lay in bed and ate chocolates, a girl whose hair smelled like hyacinth and whose scarves fluttered jauntily in the breeze. But strange and marvelous as she was, a wisp of silk in a forest of black wool, she was not the fragile creature one would have her seem. Donna Tartt girl hair boys Death is the mother of beauty,” said Henry. “And what is beauty?” “Terror. Donna Tartt terror mother said When I looked at the painting I felt the same convergence on a single point: a flickering sun-struck instance that existed now and forever. Only occasionally did I notice the chain on the finch's ankle, or think what a cruel life for a little living creature - fluttering briefly, forced always to land in the same hopeless place. Donna Tartt land forever thinking Criticism at the wrong time, even if it's legitimate criticism, can be seriously damaging and make the writer lose faith in what he's doing. It's the timing that's all-important. Donna Tartt timing important criticism
