Quotes from book
The Secret History

Donna Tartt

The Secret History is the first novel by Donna Tartt, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1992. Set in New England, it tells the story of a closely knit group of six classics students at Hampden College, a small, elite Vermont college based upon Bennington College, where Tartt was a student between 1982 and 1986.

Donna Tartt photo

“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 book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Donna Tartt photo

“Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Donna Tartt photo

“And the nights, bigger than imagining: black and gusty and enormous, disordered and wild with stars.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Donna Tartt photo

“If we are strong enough in our souls we can rip away the veil and look that naked, terrible beauty right in the face; let God consume us, devour us, unstring our bones. Then spit us out reborn.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Donna Tartt photo

“There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty - unless she is wed to something more meaningful - is always superficial.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Donna Tartt photo

“Any action, in the fullness of time, sinks to nothingness.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Donna Tartt photo

“All those layers of silence upon silence.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Donna Tartt photo

“There was a horrible, erratic thumping in my chest, as if a large bird was trapped inside my ribcage and beating itself to death.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Donna Tartt photo

“Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw," that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature?”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History