yes, therapy helps!
The 72 best phrases of Truman Capote

The 72 best phrases of Truman Capote

April 8, 2024

Truman Capote was one of the most outstanding journalists and writers of the 20th century. His works and books, such as the acclaimed In Cold Blood, have gone down in the history of literature. Because it is not uncommon that there are many Truman Capote phrases that are still remembered today , either because of its instructive nature or because of its ingenuity.

  • Related article: "The 55 best sentences about Psychology ... and its meaning"

The best phrases of Truman Capote

These are some of Capote's most memorable lines.

1. I am an alcoholic, drug addict and homosexual. I am a genius.

Phrase that, in the historical context in which it was said, was very provocative.


2. I do not like to leave an unfinished book, but I begged God to forgive me with the readings I did of Joyce. My prayers had never been so long, but his writings were infumable.

An opinion about the work of James Joyce's literature, not devoid of humor.

3. I am an American and an American never wants to be anything else.

Something that could be considered a ridicule or a patriotic proclamation, paradoxically.

4. A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations, because two good talkers rarely meet.

About the logic of ingenuity: work better alone.

5. I am a man of obsessions rather than passions.

One of Truman Capote's phrases that describe his personality.


6. Every good writer begins with a snake's nest of negative criticism, as happened to me.

Appreciation about his beginnings as a writer.

7. Life is a good play with a badly written third act.

Aphorism about the evolution that makes us spend our lives , according to this writer.

  • Maybe you are interested: "The 9 stages of the life of human beings"

8. Words have always saved me from sadness.

The therapeutic role of language.

9. Everything that literature does is gossip.

Controversial opinion about the nature of literature.

10. All failure is what gives flavor to success.

You have to have a global vision of failure, one that includes the times when things go well for us.

11. When God gives you a gift, he also gives you a whip. And that whip is for self-flagellating.

A special ability encourages us to apply discipline to it.


12. It is better to look to heaven than to live in it.

A play on words about the realistic mentality.

13. The fact that something is true does not mean that it is convenient, neither in life nor in art.

An important distinction.

14. Friendship is a full-time occupation if that person is really your friend. Therefore, you can not have many friends, there would not be time for everyone.

A simple observation but with important connotations.

15. My strongest ambitions still revolve around stories, with them I started in the art of writing.

The simplest stories they can become the ones that most reach our hearts .

16. If you spend a lot of time eating apples you end up hating apples. That happens to me with the imagination for my books: I throw so much of it that I'm empty, so I have to wait a few years until I gain imagination to write again and exhaust it again.

A successful comparison.

17. Before shaking your head, make sure you have it.

Another of Truman Capote's aphorisms, in this case about the ability to reason.

18. I have the feeling of not having lived a single moment of tranquility in my life, unless I count the occasional lumbago.

A busy life full of intense experiences.

19. By reading I read up the labels of the clothes.

That is how he described one of the habits that best defined him.

20. I will only say that the only thing a writer should work on is the documentation that he has collected as a result of his own effort and observation, and he can not be denied the right to use it. It can be condemned, but not denied.

Reflection on freedom of expression.

21. More tears are shed by the answered prayers than by the unanswered ones.

What we want can be a trap.

22. The good people of Kansas want to kill me and some executioner will be happy to do the work. Killing is very easy.

Comment about the most dedicated detractors to the cause of hatred.

23. Discipline is the most important part of success.

A key to making projects prosper.

24. Love is a chain of love, because nature is a chain of life.

Comparison between two concepts that are considered a fundamental part of life experience .

  • Maybe you're interested: "The 4 types of love: what different kinds of love are there?"

25. Good taste is the death of art.

Good taste is based on conventions, which is already given in advance.

26. All people are willing to work creatively.What happens is that most people never notice it.

Creativity is a default state that day-to-day contingencies keep repressed.

27. What bothers me the most is the unnecessary loneliness of my childhood.

A look back, towards the years in which he was a child.

28. I enjoy talking on television about things I do not like to write about.

A different medium requires a different record.

29. Of course imagination can always open any door, turn the key and make way for terror.

The uncontrollable component of the imagination is what makes it unique.

30. For me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not the subject matter, but the music that the words make.

The forms can be more important than the content.

31. When there are murders at stake, you can not have many considerations with personal pain. Not with privacy. Not with personal feelings. You have to ask questions. And some hurt deeply.

The value of lives makes sensitivity go to the background, sometimes.

32. The state of mind of the man who signs life insurance is similar to that of the one who signs his will: he necessarily thinks about death.

Another of Truman Capote's phrases based on everyday life.

33. Some cities, like packages wrapped under Christmas trees, contain unexpected gifts, secret delights.

About the secrets that enclose some places.

34. Because while you are in this life, you always have something waiting for you and even if you know it and know, besides, that it is a bad thing, what are you going to do to it? You can not stop living.

Life impels us to continue.

35. At school we only learn to recognize words and write them; But the application of those words to real life is something that only life and experience can teach us.

The difference between knowing and knowing how to do .

36. We met one day by the river, and that's it. We are both independent. We had never promised anything.

Some unions are more the result of context than of anything else.

37. Enemy of his was anyone who was what he wanted to be or who had something he wanted to do.

Envy is very powerful.

38. The military does not lose sleep. They kill and they put medals on them.

A criticism of the military institution.

39. Christmas. Jesus! I simply can not stand it. This year do not expect a card of mine. I will not send any.

Another of the writer's personal opinions, in this case regarding Christmas.

40. It is easy to ignore the rain if you have a raincoat.

Material conditions greatly affect our attitudes.

41. And thank you. For saving my life You're wonderful. Only. I love you.

In a few words you can say a lot.

42. Writing stopped being fun when I discovered the difference between good and bad writing.

The categorical distinction can break with the enjoyment of certain things.

43. Nothing is as common as believing that others are partly to blame for our failures.

We very easily project our guilt on others.

44. What is life? It is the glow of a firefly at night. It is the breath of a buffalo in winter. It is the short shadow that crosses the grass and is lost in the twilight.

Several metaphors to describe the inexplicable.

45. Wrinkles and bones, gray hair and diamonds: I'm dying to get that moment.

The beautiful part of old age.

46. ​​Few people are capable of demonstrating a principle of common ethics when their deliberation is poisoned with emotions.

The emotional clouds our ability to make decisions based on ethics.

47. One day, I started writing, without knowing that I had chained myself for life to a noble, but implacable master.

Writing can become addictive.

48. The rigorously superstitious individual is also almost always a blind believer in destiny.

Superstitions make us believe that we are subject to forces unable to be understood that, consequently, control us.

49. You can not fuck an uncle and collect your checks without at least trying to convince yourself that you love him.

An appreciation of cognitive dissonance.

50. I will never get used to anything. Getting used to it is like being dead.

Experiencing everything as if it were new makes it more interesting.

51. It is no shame to have a dirty face, the shame is never to wash it.

Distinction between the circumstances of life and not try to fight the bad.

52. He would not dare to kill a dog's fleas. He would just run over him.

Another of the funny phrases of Truman Capote when describing someone.

53. You do not have to give your heart to wild beings: the more you give it to them, the stronger they become.

Life advice on personal relationships.

54. He laughed and told me that he did not believe in heaven or in hell, only in dust over dust.

A line that with only a metaphor manages to portray the character.

55. The rich are never hanged. Only the poor and without friends.

There is classism even in death.

56Because remember this: if a bird will carry the sand, grain by grain, from one side of the ocean to the other, when it had transported it all, that would only be the beginning of eternity.

Powerful image to get an idea of ​​the scale of time.

57. I loved her so much that I forgot about myself, my self-pitying despair, and content myself thinking that something was going to happen that made her happy.

Love it can lead to obsession .

58. When someone gives you their trust, you always remain in debt to them.

The emotional imprint left by these experiences lasts a long time.

59. Things do not always go the way you want, sometimes they go the other way.

The results may be contrary to our interests.

60. It is not a matter of fidelity to one's concepts, it is a matter of commitment to be able to remain an individual without the constant threat of conventional pressures.

The importance of maintaining one's identity

61. The brain can take advice, but not the heart.

Emotions do not understand arguments.

62. It is impossible for a man who enjoys freedom to imagine what it means to be deprived of it.

A matter of perspective.

63. You can not blame a writer for what a character says.

The characters are not extensions of the author's personality.

64. You have to learn so much, and from so many sources: not only from books, but from music, from painting and even from the simple observation of every day.

There are practically endless sources of knowledge.

65. Love, having no geography, knows no boundaries.

A universal emotion

66. A silence lingered in the air and a distant laugh spread through the wagon, cut into equal slices.

Funny description of a laugh.

67. Most people who get tattoos have some sense of inferiority and try to create a mark of virility in itself.

A debatable assessment of the hidden intentions of those who tattoo themselves.

68. Mike Jagger moves as if he were doing the parody of the mix of a majorette and Fred Astaire.

Critic to this famous musician.

69. The villages are the best for Christmas; immediately the environment is created and their influence makes them come alive.

A special context for the celebration.

70. We are free to do and say what we want, as long as this freedom of speech and action does not harm our neighbor.

One of the basic principles of functionalism.

71. There is, in conventionalism, a considerable dose of hypocrisy.

Normality requires pretending to be maintained.

72. Every few years our bodies undergo a complete remodeling; Whether it is desirable or not, nothing more natural than that we change.

Stability is an illusion.


JOHNNY CARSON INTERVIEW BETTE DAVIS (April 2024).


Similar Articles