Tara Westover

All my father's stories were about our mountain, our valley, our jagged little patch of Idaho.

— Tara Westover

I spent my summers bottling peaches and my winters rotating supplies. When the World of Men failed, my family would continue on,…

— Tara Westover

I choose not to see my parents because I value myself - and they didn't value me or my mind.

— Tara Westover

Psychologically, when you hear something a number of times, you start to believe it.

— Tara Westover

I taught myself algebra and a little grammar, and somehow I scraped a high enough score on the ACT to be admitted…

— Tara Westover

So, I was born and raised the youngest of seven children on this really beautiful mountain in Southern Idaho. But my dad…

— Tara Westover

There is a certain panic, at least if you're raised Mormon, to being single at 31. But what they don't tell you…

— Tara Westover

An education is not so much about making a living as making a person.

— Tara Westover

When I came to Cambridge, I was involved in the ward for a little bit, but I did have a very gradual…

— Tara Westover

I don't really feel like I belong anywhere.

— Tara Westover

I can't have my family in my life because they are abusive, and I don't have control over that. There is an…

— Tara Westover

We'd had books in my house growing up, but we had never had anything like lectures. I had never written an essay…

— Tara Westover

They were a very good form for me - the way a short story has to be designed in order to function,…

— Tara Westover

My brother once lit his leg on fire. And after, when the fire was finally out, his leg was covered in third-degree…

— Tara Westover

Publishing a book is a very different thing than writing one.

— Tara Westover

I was 17 the first time I set foot in a classroom, but 10 years later, I would graduate from Cambridge with…

— Tara Westover

Because I never attended elementary schools of any kind, I missed most of the books that were popular with other kids my…

— Tara Westover

Although my family attended the same church as everyone in our town, our religion was not the same. I could stand with…

— Tara Westover

My older brother bought textbooks and was able to teach himself enough to go to college. When I was 16, he returned…

— Tara Westover

My loyalty to my father had increased in proportion to the miles between us.

— Tara Westover

Anyone who grows up reading the Bible for spiritual reasons, you get accustomed to reading things that are too much for you,…

— Tara Westover

I adore Toni Morrison. I think we would all be better writers if we read more of her.

— Tara Westover

Not knowing my birthday had never seemed strange. I knew I'd been born near the end of September, and each year I…

— Tara Westover

I had a mental breakdown while doing my Ph.D. at Cambridge, soon after I cut off contact with my parents, and I…

— Tara Westover

We think love is noble, and in some ways, it is. But in some ways, it isn't. Love is just love. And…

— Tara Westover