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 TarttRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote explores the idea of a personal flaw that defines one's life and the struggle between life choices and the desire for beauty.
In this quote, Donna Tartt reflects on the concept of a 'fatal flaw,' suggesting that such flaws are not merely fictional constructs but can exist in real life. She reveals her own flaw as a 'morbid longing for the picturesque,' highlighting the conflict between the desire for aesthetic beauty and the reality of life, which can be flawed and complicated.
Themes
FlawLifeBeautyLongingPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a conversation about personal struggles, one might quote this to illustrate how flaws can shape our identity.
More from Donna Tartt
All quotes →But sometimes, unexpectedly, grief pounded over me in waves that left me gasping; and when the waves washed back, I found myself looking out over a brackish wreck which was illumined in a light so lucid, so heartsick and empty, that I could hardly remember that the world had ever been anything but dead.
Donna TarttRead
And the flavor of Pippa's kiss--bittersweet and strange--stayed with me all the way back uptown, swaying and sleepy as I sailed home on the bus, melting with sorrow and loveliness, a starry ache that lifted me up above the windswept city like a kite: my head in the rainclouds, my heart in the sky.
Donna TarttRead
Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw," that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature?
Donna TarttRead
I've written only two novels, but they're both long ones, and they each took a decade to write.
Donna TarttRead
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 TarttRead
Similar quotes
Each of us must pay for the slightest damage he inflicts upon a universe created for indifference and stagnation, sooner or later, he will regret not having left it intact.
Emile M. CioranRead
If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.
Richard BachRead
For a time Jack was angry; but when he had been without the jacket for a short while he began to realize that being half-clothed is infinitely more uncomfortable than being entirely naked. Soon he did not miss his clothing in the least, and from that he came to revel in the freedom of his unhampered state.
Edgar Rice BurroughsRead
Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity than straigthforward and simple integrity in another. A knave would rather quarrel with a brother knave than with a fool, but he would rather avoid a quarrel with one honest man than with both. He can combat a fool by management and address, and he can conquer a knave by temptations. But the honest man is neither to be bamboozled nor bribed.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Viva Las Vegas with your neon flashin' and your one arm bandits crashin' all those hopes down the drain. Viva Las Vegas turnin' day into nighttime, turnin night into daytime. If you see it once, you'll never be the same again.
Elvis PresleyRead
When government - in pursuit of good intentions - tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.
Milton FriedmanRead