Born on September 30th 1924 in New Orleans Truman Capote’s childhood was one of multiple moves, divorce and a long absence from his mother; often lonely he taught himself to read and write at a very early age and was often seen carrying his dictionary and a notepad about even at a very young age.
Truman began writing fiction whilst still a child saying “I began writing really sort of seriously when I was about eleven. I say seriously in the sense that like other kids go home and practice the violin or the piano or whatever, I used to go home from school every day, and I would write for about three hours. I was obsessed by it.”
A novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor he is probably best known for his novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s and his self labelled ‘non fiction’ novel In Cold Blood. These 10 classic Truman Capote quotes show us just why he is such a favourite for so many readers.
Close friends with Harper Lee, Capote was a character in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird and later would embark upon a four year collaboration with her which resulted in his True Crime, ‘non fiction’ novel In Cold Blood that details the real life details of the 1959 murders of four members of the Herbert Clutter family.
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
“Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.”
“I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true”
“Sometimes when I think how good my book can be, I can hardly breathe“
“A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That’s why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet.”
“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make.”
“But I’m not a saint yet. I’m an alcoholic. I’m a drug addict. I’m homosexual. I’m a genius.”
“You can’t blame a writer for what the characters say.”
“It should take you about four seconds to walk from here to the door. I’ll give you two.”
“There is only one unpardonable sin–deliberate cruelty. All else can be forgiven.“
Truman Capote died in Bel Air, Los Angeles, on August 25, 1984 at the age of 59.
He may have been considered controversial but there’s no denying he was brilliant.
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