--- title: "10 Way Quotes By Tana French" description: "10 Way quotes by Tana French. Plus more from Tana French and more Way sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ca/tana-french-1016_apprentice_i-m-still-very-much-in-the-apprentice-st_979089.png" --- > [I'm still very much in the apprentice stage of writing. I read somewhere that you need to write a million words before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-m-still-very-much-in-the-apprentice-stage-of-writing-i-read/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ca/tana-french-1016_apprentice_i-m-still-very-much-in-the-apprentice-st_979089.png) > [“A bore or an uggo might manage not to get up anyone's nose, but if a girl's got brains and looks and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/a-bore-or-an-uggo-might-manage-not-to-get-up-anyone-s-nose-but-if-a/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b4/tana-french-1016_bores_a-bore-or-an-uggo-might-manage-not-to-ge_2875013.jpg) > [I like books like 'The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher,' where the investigation of a crime becomes a way into an exploration of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-like-books-like-the-suspicions-of-mr-whicher-where-the/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ee4/tana-french-1016_books_i-like-books-like-the-suspicions-of-mr-w_622978.png) > [With 'Broken Harbour,' a third of the way through, I worked it out and had to go back and bloody rewrite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/with-broken-harbour-a-third-of-the-way-through-i-worked-it-out-and/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea6/tana-french-1016_back_with-broken-harbour-a-third-of-the-way-t_3014685.png) > [I used to think I sewed us together at the edges with my own hands, pulled the stitches tight and I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-used-to-think-i-sewed-us-together-at-the-edges-with-my-own-hands/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a06/tana-french-1016_beyond-my-control_i-used-to-think-i-sewed-us-together-at-t_2056576.jpg) > [I had learned early to assume something dark and lethal hidden at the heart of anything I loved. When I couldn't find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-had-learned-early-to-assume-something-dark-and-lethal-hidden-at-the/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/tana-french-1016_assuming_i-had-learned-early-to-assume-something_597456.jpg) > [I can't explain the alchemy that transmuted one evening into the equivalent of years held lightly in common. The only way I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-can-t-explain-the-alchemy-that-transmuted-one-evening-into-the/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef2/tana-french-1016_alchemy_i-can-t-explain-the-alchemy-that-transmu_1711834.png) > [Donna Tartt blows me away - that impeccable writing, so rich you could eat it and so luminous that it lights up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/donna-tartt-blows-me-away-that-impeccable-writing-so-rich-you-could/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e2/tana-french-1016_friendship_donna-tartt-blows-me-away-that-impeccabl_1385942.png) > [If you're writing a scene for a character with whom you disagree in every way, you still need to show how that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/if-you-re-writing-a-scene-for-a-character-with-whom-you-disagree-in/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83f/tana-french-1016_books_if-you-re-writing-a-scene-for-a-characte_565757.png) > [There was a time when I believed I was the redeemed one, the boy borne safely home on the ebb of whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/there-was-a-time-when-i-believed-i-was-the-redeemed-one-the-boy-borne/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f30/tana-french-1016_boys_there-was-a-time-when-i-believed-i-was-t_2561614.jpg) ## Other authors on Way ## More by Tana French > [“...the solitude was intoxicating. On my first night there I lay on my back on the sticky carpet for hours, in the murky orange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/the-solitude-was-intoxicating-on-my-first-night-there-i-lay-on-my/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“I remember this country back when I was growing up. We went to church, we ate family suppers around the table, and it would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-remember-this-country-back-when-i-was-growing-up-we-went-to-church/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“That house shimmered in my mind like some fairy fort that appeared for one day in a lifetime, tantalizing and charged, with those four…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/that-house-shimmered-in-my-mind-like-some-fairy-fort-that-appeared/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“It would take a while to occur to him that my rules had sweet fuck-all in common with his.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/it-would-take-a-while-to-occur-to-him-that-my-rules-had-sweet-fuck/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [I love writing. I feel ridiculously lucky that this is what I get to do all day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-love-writing-i-feel-ridiculously-lucky-that-this-is-what-i-get-to/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“…out here in the real world, my man, you would be amazed how seldom murder has to break into people’s lives. Ninety-nine times out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/out-here-in-the-real-world-my-man-you-would-be-amazed-how-seldom/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“Before I could get my bearings he was on top of me and shoving my face down into the dirt. He was bigger and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/before-i-could-get-my-bearings-he-was-on-top-of-me-and-shoving-my/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [We think of mortality so little these days... I thought of the stern Victorian determination to keep death in mind, the uncompromising tombstones. Remember,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/we-think-of-mortality-so-little-these-days-i-thought-of-the-stern/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [I read a lot. I always have, but in those two years I gorged myself on books with a voluptuous, almost erotic gluttony. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-read-a-lot-i-always-have-but-in-those-two-years-i-gorged-myself-on/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“For ten years Dublin’s been changing faster than our minds can handle. The economic boom has given us too many people with helicopters and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/for-ten-years-dublin-s-been-changing-faster-than-our-minds-can-handle/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [When we can't see a pattern, we fit pieces together until one takes shape, because we have to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/when-we-can-t-see-a-pattern-we-fit-pieces-together-until-one-takes/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“Stephen shrugged. “Yeah. Well. I said I would.” “Ah. Are we having issues?” “This feels sleazy.” “I promise I’ll respect you in the morning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/stephen-shrugged-yeah-well-i-said-i-would-ah-are-we-having-issues/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“She hears all the voices from when she was little, soothing, strengthening: Don’t be scared, not of monsters, not of witches, not of big…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/she-hears-all-the-voices-from-when-she-was-little-soothing/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [“Our relationship with truth is fundamental but cracked, refracting confusingly like fragmented glass.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/our-relationship-with-truth-is-fundamental-but-cracked-refracting/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [My night stand is permanently jammed with books I want to read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/my-night-stand-is-permanently-jammed-with-books-i-want-to-read/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/tana-french/#itemlist", "name": "10 Way Quotes By Tana French", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I'm still very much in the apprentice stage of writing. 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When I couldn't find it, I responded, bewildered and wary, in the only way I knew how: by planting it there myself.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tana French" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-had-learned-early-to-assume-something-dark-and-lethal-hidden-at-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/tana-french-1016_assuming_i-had-learned-early-to-assume-something_597456.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/tana-french-1016_assuming_i-had-learned-early-to-assume-something_597456.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/tana-french-1016_assuming_i-had-learned-early-to-assume-something_597456.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I had learned early to assume something dark and lethal hidden at the heart of anything I loved. 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The only way I can put it is that we recognized, too surely even for surprise, that we shared the same currency.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tana French" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/i-can-t-explain-the-alchemy-that-transmuted-one-evening-into-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef2/tana-french-1016_alchemy_i-can-t-explain-the-alchemy-that-transmu_1711834.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef2/tana-french-1016_alchemy_i-can-t-explain-the-alchemy-that-transmu_1711834.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef2/tana-french-1016_alchemy_i-can-t-explain-the-alchemy-that-transmu_1711834.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I can't explain the alchemy that transmuted one evening into the equivalent of years held lightly in common…” — Tana French", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Donna Tartt blows me away - that impeccable writing, so rich you could eat it and so luminous that it lights up the whole room, and the way she brings her characters to life so completely and in such fine detail that you know them as intimately as your dearest friends.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tana French" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/donna-tartt-blows-me-away-that-impeccable-writing-so-rich-you-could/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e2/tana-french-1016_friendship_donna-tartt-blows-me-away-that-impeccabl_1385942.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e2/tana-french-1016_friendship_donna-tartt-blows-me-away-that-impeccabl_1385942.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e2/tana-french-1016_friendship_donna-tartt-blows-me-away-that-impeccabl_1385942.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Donna Tartt blows me away - that impeccable writing, so rich you could eat it and so luminous that it lights…” — Tana French", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If you're writing a scene for a character with whom you disagree in every way, you still need to show how that character is absolutely justified in his or her own mind, or the scene will come across as being about the author's views rather than about the character's.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tana French" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/if-you-re-writing-a-scene-for-a-character-with-whom-you-disagree-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83f/tana-french-1016_books_if-you-re-writing-a-scene-for-a-characte_565757.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83f/tana-french-1016_books_if-you-re-writing-a-scene-for-a-characte_565757.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83f/tana-french-1016_books_if-you-re-writing-a-scene-for-a-characte_565757.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If you're writing a scene for a character with whom you disagree in every way, you still need to show how…” — Tana French", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There was a time when I believed I was the redeemed one, the boy borne safely home on the ebb of whatever freak tide carried Peter and Jamie away. Not any more. In ways too dark and crucial to be called metaphorical, I never left that wood.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tana French" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/there-was-a-time-when-i-believed-i-was-the-redeemed-one-the-boy-borne/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f30/tana-french-1016_boys_there-was-a-time-when-i-believed-i-was-t_2561614.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f30/tana-french-1016_boys_there-was-a-time-when-i-believed-i-was-t_2561614.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f30/tana-french-1016_boys_there-was-a-time-when-i-believed-i-was-t_2561614.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There was a time when I believed I was the redeemed one, the boy borne safely home on the ebb of whatever…” — Tana French", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/tana-french/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/tana-french/", "name": "Way Quotes by Tana French", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/tana-french/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ca/tana-french-1016_apprentice_i-m-still-very-much-in-the-apprentice-st_979089.png" }, "description": "10 Way quotes by Tana French. 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