Quotes from book
Educated

Educated

#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University “Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.”—The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book Prize Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home. “Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—Vogue NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • Time • NPR • Good Morning America • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • The Economist • Financial Times • Newsday • New York Post • theSkimm • Refinery29 • Bloomberg • Self • Real Simple • Town & Country • Bustle • Paste • Publishers Weekly • Library Journal • LibraryReads • Book Riot • Pamela Paul, KQED • New York Public Library


Tara Westover photo
Tara Westover photo

“The thing about having a mental breakdown is that no matter how obvious it is that you’re having one, it is somehow not obvious to you.”

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 37, “Gambling for Redemption” (p. 307)

Tara Westover photo

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?”

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 36, “Four Long Arms, Whirling” (p. 301)

Tara Westover photo

“I decided to experiment with normality.”

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 24, “A Knight, Errant” (p. 212)

Tara Westover photo

“I began to experience the most powerful advantage of money: the ability to think of things besides money.”

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 24, “A Knight, Errant” (p. 207)

Tara Westover photo

“Curiosity is a luxury reserved for the financially secure.”

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 23, “I’m from Idaho” (p. 203)

Tara Westover photo
Tara Westover photo
Tara Westover photo
Tara Westover photo
Tara Westover photo

“The skill I was learning was a crucial one, the patience to read things I could not yet understand.”

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 6, “Shield and Buckler” (p. 62)

Tara Westover photo

“The seed of curiosity had been planted; it needed nothing more than time and boredom to grow.”

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 6, “Shield and Buckler” (p. 60)

Tara Westover photo
Tara Westover photo
Tara Westover photo

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