Quote

I always felt that nobody was going to understand me, going to understand what I felt about things. I guess that's why I started writing. At least on paper I could put down what I thought.

Truman Capote

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Truman Capote
Age: 59 †
Born: 1924
Born: September 30
Died: 1984
Died: August 25
Actor
Artist
Author
Autobiographer
Journalist
Novelist
Playwright
Screenwriter
Writer
New Orleans
Louisiana
Truman Streckfus Persons
Truman Garcia Capote
Least
Understand
Felt
Thought
Writing
Guess
Going
Paper
Always
Nobody
Things
Started

More quotes by Truman Capote

Image
At one time I used to keep notebooks with outlines for stories. But I found doing this somehow deadened the idea in my imagination. If the notion is good enough, if it truly belongs to you, then you can't forget it-it will haunt you till it's written.
Truman Capote
Image
Of course, at their best, movies are anti-literature and, as a medium, belong not to writers, not to actors, but to directors.
Truman Capote
Image
The instant she saw the letter she squinted her eyes and bent her lips in a tough tiny smile that advanced her age immeasurably. Darling, she instructed me, would you reach in the drawer there and give me my purse. A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick.
Truman Capote
Image
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
Truman Capote
Image
I'll never get used to anything. Anybody that does they might as well be dead.
Truman Capote
Image
It's redundant to die in Los Angeles.
Truman Capote
Image
would you reach in the drawer there and give me my purse. A girl doesn't read this sort of thing without her lipstick.
Truman Capote
Image
Those fellows, they're always crying over killers. Never a thought for the victims.
Truman Capote
Image
Lively, too. Talky as a jaybird. With something smart to say on every subject: better than the radio.
Truman Capote
Image
But I'm not a saint yet. I'm an alcoholic. I'm a drug addict. I'm homosexual. I'm a genius.
Truman Capote
Image
Life is difficult enough without Meryl Streep movies.
Truman Capote
Image
But mostly they were lies I told it wasn't my fault, I couldn't remember, because it was as though I'd been to one of those supernatural castles visited by characters in legends: once away, you do not remember, all that is left is the ghostly echo of haunting wonder.
Truman Capote
Image
That's all a writer has to write about - what he sees and hears and what not.
Truman Capote
Image
I think the only person a writer has an obligation to is himself. If what I write doesn't fulfill something in me, if I don't honestly feel it's the best I can do, then I'm miserable.
Truman Capote
Image
There is no shame — having a dirty face — the shame comes when you keep it dirty.
Truman Capote
Image
Some prisons don't allow guitar because the strings can be detached and used as weapons.
Truman Capote
Image
Sometimes when I think how good my book can be, I can hardly breathe.
Truman Capote
Image
My yardstick is how somebody treats me.
Truman Capote
Image
I will say only that all a writer has to work with is the material he has gathered as the result of his own endeavor and observations, and he cannot be denied the right to use it. Condemn, but not deny.
Truman Capote
Image
One day, I started writing, not knowing that I had chained myself for life to a noble but merciless master. When God hands you a gift, he also hands you a whip and the whip is intended solely for self-flagellation... I'm here alone in my dark madness, all by myself with my deck of cards - and, of course, the whip God gave me.
Truman Capote