626 Quotes by Donna Tartt

It does not do to be frightened of things about which you know nothing.

That is to say: I wanted to maintain the illusion that their dealings with me were completely straightforward; that we were all friends, and no secrets, though the plain fact of it was that there were plenty of things they didn’t let me in on and would not for some time. And though I tried to ignore this I was aware of it all the same.

Mais, vrai, J’ai trop pleure! Les aubes sont navrantes. What a sad and beautiful line that is. I’d always hoped that someday I’d be able to use it.

And someplace, if there is a place where lists are kept, and credit given, I am sure there is a gold star by his name.

I was struck by something rather obvious – namely, that any religious ritual is arbitrary unless one is able to see past it to a deeper meaning.

Reason is always apparent to a discerning eye. But luck? It’s invisible, erratic, angelic.

Bleakly, Harriet gazed out into the antiseptic gloom. A weight lay upon her, and a darkness. She’d learned things she never knew, things she had no idea of knowing, and yet in a strange way it was the hidden message of Captain Scott: that victory and collapse were sometimes the same thing.

Sometimes when there’s been an accident and reality is too sudden and strange to comprehend, the surreal will take over.

What are the dead, anyway, but waves and energy? Light shining from a dead star?