--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And yet she was wholly herself: a rarity." description: "\"“And yet she was wholly herself: a rarity.”\" — Donna Tartt" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d45/donna-tartt-391_quote_and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity_2236906.jpg" --- # And yet she was wholly herself: a rarity. ![“And yet she was wholly herself: a rarity.” quote by Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d45/donna-tartt-391_quote_and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity_2236906.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d45/donna-tartt-391_quote_and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity_2236906.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d45/donna-tartt-391_quote_and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity_2236906.jpg) > ““And yet she was wholly herself: a rarity.”” [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A rare person maintains authenticity despite external expectations. **In simple terms:** She remains uniquely herself. Key Takeaway Value authenticity. Themes identity rarity self individuality creativity Mood reflective introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - career - relationships - creative work - social pressure Key Concepts self‑actualization uniqueness psychology Questions to Reflect On - What does being “wholly herself” entail? - How do you nurture rarity? A Different Perspective Rare authenticity may be misunderstood or isolated. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Rarity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rarity/) [Wholly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wholly/) [Wholly Rarity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wholly-rarity-5054856/) ## Related quotes > [Love is either wholly folly, or fully holy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-r-burch/love-is-either-wholly-folly-or-fully-holy/) [Michael R. Burch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-r-burch/) > [The way you become divine is to become wholly human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/the-way-you-become-divine-is-to-become-wholly-human/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [The perfection of Christian character depends wholly upon the grace and strength found alone in God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-g-white/the-perfection-of-christian-character-depends-wholly-upon-the-grace/) [Ellen G. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-g-white/) > [Every man is wholly honest to himself and to God, but not to any one else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/every-man-is-wholly-honest-to-himself-and-to-god-but-not-to-any-one/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Only the half-mad are wholly alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/only-the-half-mad-are-wholly-alive/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [I've been making bronze sculptures for a long time. My sculptures are wholly unsuccessful and uncommercial. No one is even the remotest bit interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-emin/i-ve-been-making-bronze-sculptures-for-a-long-time-my-sculptures-are/) [Tracey Emin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-emin/) > [The novel that's contemporary in the sense of being wholly 'of now' is an impossibility, if only because novels may take years to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-swift/the-novel-that-s-contemporary-in-the-sense-of-being-wholly-of-now-is/) [Graham Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-swift/) > [My mind wanders terribly. I'm not wholly annoyed by my daydreaming as it has been immense use to me as regards imaginative thought, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/my-mind-wanders-terribly-i-m-not-wholly-annoyed-by-my-daydreaming-as/) [Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/) > [Postmodernism came nowhere close in quality to Modernism at its apogee, not least because that later style wholly lacked the social impetus that animated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/postmodernism-came-nowhere-close-in-quality-to-modernism-at-its/) [Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/) > [My experience of children on a film set, especially on a big film set like the 'Potter' one, is not wholly positive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessie-cave/my-experience-of-children-on-a-film-set-especially-on-a-big-film-set/) [Jessie Cave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessie-cave/) > [I am wholly yours - you are everything to me; we will sustain each other in all the ills of life it may please…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/i-am-wholly-yours-you-are-everything-to-me-we-will-sustain-each-other/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [“She was not a half. She was wholly her own.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/renee-ahdieh/she-was-not-a-half-she-was-wholly-her-own/) [Renee Ahdieh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/renee-ahdieh/) > [I ascribe my change wholly to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/i-ascribe-my-change-wholly-to-god/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [He defined himself almost wholly in the negative: It was not who he was, it was who he was not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-bohjalian/he-defined-himself-almost-wholly-in-the-negative-it-was-not-who-he/) [Chris Bohjalian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-bohjalian/) > [We never wholly shed anything that we have ever been.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-ferrars/we-never-wholly-shed-anything-that-we-have-ever-been/) [Elizabeth Ferrars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-ferrars/) ## More by Donna Tartt > [I hope we're all ready to leave the phenomenal world, and enter into the sublime?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-hope-we-re-all-ready-to-leave-the-phenomenal-world-and-enter-into/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-i-add-my-own-love-to-the-history-of-people-who-have-loved/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [And the flavor of Pippa's kiss--bittersweet and strange--stayed with me all the way back uptown, swaying and sleepy as I sailed home on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-the-flavor-of-pippa-s-kiss-bittersweet-and-strange-stayed-with-me/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“The world won't come to me...so I must go to it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/the-world-won-t-come-to-me-so-i-must-go-to-it/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [There's an expectation these days that novels - like any other consumer product - should be made on a production line, with one dropping…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/there-s-an-expectation-these-days-that-novels-like-any-other-consumer/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“A month or two before, I would have been appalled at the idea of any murder at all. But that Sunday afternoon, as I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/a-month-or-two-before-i-would-have-been-appalled-at-the-idea-of-any/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [Well, I think storytellers have always found murder a fascinating device.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/well-i-think-storytellers-have-always-found-murder-a-fascinating/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [Always remember, the person we’re really working for is the person who’s restoring the piece a hundred years from now. He’s the one we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/always-remember-the-person-we-re-really-working-for-is-the-person-who/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“The silence between us was happy and strange, connected by the cord and the icy voices thinly echoing. “You don’t have to talk,” she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/the-silence-between-us-was-happy-and-strange-connected-by-the-cord/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“It is a terrible thing to learn as a child that one is a being separate from all the world, that no one and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/it-is-a-terrible-thing-to-learn-as-a-child-that-one-is-a-being/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“You didn’t meet many people who moved freely through the world with such a vigorous contempt for it and at the same time such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/you-didn-t-meet-many-people-who-moved-freely-through-the-world-with/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“maybe that’s what’s waiting for us at the end of the journey, a majesty unimaginable until the very moment we find ourselves walking through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/maybe-that-s-what-s-waiting-for-us-at-the-end-of-the-journey-a/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“lights and moods and seasons was to see it a thousand different ways and to keep it shut in the dark—a thing made of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/lights-and-moods-and-seasons-was-to-see-it-a-thousand-different-ways/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don’t get to choose our own hearts. We can’t make ourselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/a-great-sorrow-and-one-that-i-am-only-beginning-to-understand-we-don/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“Upon meeting Julian Morrow, one has the impression that he is a man of extraordinary sympathy and warmth. But what you call his 'Asiatic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/upon-meeting-julian-morrow-one-has-the-impression-that-he-is-a-man-of/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) [Explore all 590 Donna Tartt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) ## More Rarity quotes > [The wisdom of providence is as much revealed in the rarity of genius, as in the circumstance that not everyone is deaf or blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-c-lichtenberg/the-wisdom-of-providence-is-as-much-revealed-in-the-rarity-of-genius/) [Georg C. Lichtenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-c-lichtenberg/) > [Technology has altered the way music sounds, how it’s composed and how we experience it. It has also flooded the world with music. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-byrne/technology-has-altered-the-way-music-sounds-how-it-s-composed-and-how/) [David Byrne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-byrne/) > [I like the whole package to be good, It's a rarity that that happens, so I end up not working a lot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-wright/i-like-the-whole-package-to-be-good-it-s-a-rarity-that-that-happens/) [Robin Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-wright/) > [“The rarity of what you hold is more powerful than you can imagine. It is a gift for humanity and the most lethal curse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lindsay-j-pryor/the-rarity-of-what-you-hold-is-more-powerful-than-you-can-imagine-it/) [Lindsay J. Pryor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lindsay-j-pryor/) > [To a lot of Africans, seeing an animal is a something of a rarity. So it's a paradox of this sort of parallel life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/to-a-lot-of-africans-seeing-an-animal-is-a-something-of-a-rarity-so/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [Rarity gives a charm; so early fruits and winter roses are the most prized; and coyness sets off an extravagant mistress, while the door…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martial/rarity-gives-a-charm-so-early-fruits-and-winter-roses-are-the-most/) [Martial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martial/) > [Legislators who are of even average intelligence stand out among their colleagues. . . . A cultured college president has become as much a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bergen-evans/legislators-who-are-of-even-average-intelligence-stand-out-among/) [Bergen Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bergen-evans/) > [I think my mistakes were kind of common - leaning on cliches and adjectives in the place of clear, vivid writing. But at least…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-schaap/i-think-my-mistakes-were-kind-of-common-leaning-on-cliches-and/) [Dick Schaap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-schaap/) > [One of the most dangerous errors is that civilization is automatically bound to increase and spread. The lesson of history is the opposite; civilization…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/one-of-the-most-dangerous-errors-is-that-civilization-is/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [The rarity is the sudden epiphany or single turning point showing you with dramatic clarity that your marriage is over, although that does happen.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-wasser/the-rarity-is-the-sudden-epiphany-or-single-turning-point-showing-you/) [Laura Wasser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-wasser/) > [Virtuosi have been long remarked to have little conscience in their favorite pursuits. A man will steal a rarity who would cut off his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/virtuosi-have-been-long-remarked-to-have-little-conscience-in-their/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Beauty has no relation to price, rarity, or age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cotton/beauty-has-no-relation-to-price-rarity-or-age/) [John Cotton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cotton/) > [The multitude always strains after rarities and exceptions, and thinks little of the gifts of nature; so that, when prophecy is talked of, ordinary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baruch-spinoza/the-multitude-always-strains-after-rarities-and-exceptions-and-thinks/) [Baruch Spinoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baruch-spinoza/) > [I've been very lucky. I come from a very close family. I'm also in a relationship that's been really good. Lasted a long time.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/i-ve-been-very-lucky-i-come-from-a-very-close-family-i-m-also-in-a/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) > [Television hangs on the questionable theory that whatever happens anywhere should be sensed everywhere. If everyone is going to be able to see everything,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/television-hangs-on-the-questionable-theory-that-whatever-happens/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Browse all 96 Rarity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rarity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“And yet she was wholly herself: a rarity.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Donna Tartt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Rarity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d45/donna-tartt-391_quote_and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity_2236906.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d45/donna-tartt-391_quote_and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity_2236906.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d45/donna-tartt-391_quote_and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity_2236906.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“And yet she was wholly herself: a rarity.” — Donna Tartt", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Donna Tartt", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“And yet she was wholly herself:...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-yet-she-was-wholly-herself-a-rarity/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```