Goldfinch Quotes

That little guy, said Boris in the car on the way to Antwerp. You know the painter saw him-he wasn't painting that bird from his mind, you know? That's a real little guy, chained up on the wall, there. If I saw him mixed up with dozen other birds all the same kind, I could pick him out, no problem.
And he's right. So could I. And if I could go back in time I'd clip the chain in a heartbeat and never care a minute that the picture was never painted. ~ Donna Tartt

Theta loved pretty things more than air or food. She had a deep fondness for full red roses, pink shells, and starry sunsets. ~ Lena Goldfinch

There was a form of contentment in doing what she could and not worrying about the rest. ~ Lena Goldfinch

He wanted to see Mira well-fed and clothed. He wanted to get her back home, safe again, and with their family, where she was supposed to be.
And for Anna ... Jovanni couldn't seem to pull together the right words for what he wanted.
For Anna, he wanted everything. ~ Lena Goldfinch

Something inside him shifted and came to rest, as if it had found its proper place. It was like one of his sister's wooden tumbling puzzles, like the satisfying click it made when all its many turning pieces were perfectly aligned. ~ Lena Goldfinch

Life is catastrophe ... Everything is unfair. Who do we complain to in this shitty place? ... We all lose everything that matters in the end ... it's possible to play it with a kind of joy.p.767, The Goldfinch ~ Donna Tartt

What do you think about America?"
"Everyone always smiles so big! Well - most people. Maybe not so much you. I think it looks stupid. ~ Donna Tartt

There's the Holy Ghost and there's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can appear as other birds- sometimes as a swallow, sometimes a goldfinch and sometimes as a blue-tit." "How do you know him from an ordinary tit?" "He speaks." "How does he speak, in what language?" "Human language." "And what does he tell you?" "Why, to-day he told me that a fool would visit me and would ask me unseemly questions. You ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Let's walk to the beach
Let's cast the net in the water
And catch freshness from water

Let's pick up a pebble from the ground
Feel the weight of existence

Let's not abuse moonshine if we suffer from fever
(Occasionally I have observed the moon descending during fever
And reaching the hand of the roof of heaven
I have noticed the goldfinch singing better
Sometimes the wound beneath my foot
Has taught the ups and downs of earth
Sometimes in my sickbed the dimension of the rose has multiplied
And the diameter of orange has increased, the radius of lantern too) ~ Sohrab Sepehri