--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I wrote these letters in the mornings…" description: "\"“I wrote these letters in the mornings before work, in the library, during my sessions of prolonged loitering in Commons, where I remained every evenin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdc/donna-tartt-391_hanging-around_i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-be_2089340.jpg" --- # I wrote these letters in the mornings before work, in the… ![“I wrote these letters in the mornings before work, in the library, during my sessions of prolonged loitering in Commons, where I remained every evening until asked to leave by the janitor. It seemed my whole life was composed of these disjointed fractions of time, hanging around in one public…” quote by Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdc/donna-tartt-391_hanging-around_i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-be_2089340.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdc/donna-tartt-391_hanging-around_i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-be_2089340.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdc/donna-tartt-391_hanging-around_i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-be_2089340.jpg) > ““I wrote these letters in the mornings before work, in the library, during my sessions of prolonged loitering in Commons, where I remained every evening until asked to leave by the janitor. It seemed my whole life was composed of these disjointed fractions of time, hanging around in one public place and then another, as if I were waiting for trains that never came. And, like one of those ghosts who are said to linger around depots late at night, asking passersby for the timetable of the Midnight Express that derailed twenty years before, I wandered from light to light until that dreaded hour when all the doors closed and, stepping from the world of warmth and people and conversation overheard, I felt the old familiar cold twist through my bones again and then it was all forgotten, the warmth, the lights; I had never been warm in my life, ever.”” [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. Life feels fragmented, wandering between places and waiting for elusive moments that never arrive. **In simple terms:** Life is a series of disjointed, waiting for something. Key Takeaway Embrace uncertainty and seek connection. Themes loneliness search waiting Mood nostalgic introspective Type literary reflective When to use this quote - commuting - library study - night walks Key Concepts existentialism memory space Questions to Reflect On - What patterns emerge in your own fragmented moments? - How can you create intentional pauses? A Different Perspective The narrative may romanticize aimlessness, overlooking agency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Forgotten Warmth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgotten-warmth-2137336/) [Hanging around](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hanging-around/) [Letters Mornings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/letters-mornings-4121984/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Whole life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole-life/) [Wrote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wrote/) [Wrote Letters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wrote-letters-460860/) [Years Wandered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-wandered-2137337/) ## Related quotes > [“It seemed my whole life was composed of these disjointed fractions of time, hanging around in one public place and then another, as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/it-seemed-my-whole-life-was-composed-of-these-disjointed-fractions-of/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [For hours, for days, for years, she had wandered endlessly within herself but never met anybody, nobody.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/for-hours-for-days-for-years-she-had-wandered-endlessly-within/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [“You think the winter will never end, and then, when you don't expect it, when you have almost forgotten it, warmth comes and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/you-think-the-winter-will-never-end-and-then-when-you-don-t-expect-it/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“I wrote letters in the classroom, I wrote letters at my desk at home with Seagull in my lap, I wrote letters at empty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-wrote-letters-in-the-classroom-i-wrote-letters-at-my-desk-at-home/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [After he made up his mind to spend the rest of the war in the hospital, Yossarian wrote letters to everyone he knew saying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/after-he-made-up-his-mind-to-spend-the-rest-of-the-war-in-the/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [I never wanted to write. I just wrote letters home from a kibbutz in Israel to reassure my parents that I was still alive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maeve-binchy/i-never-wanted-to-write-i-just-wrote-letters-home-from-a-kibbutz-in/) [Maeve Binchy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maeve-binchy/) > [“In recent years they had fallen in with a gabby, childless couple, older than they were, called the MacNatts. Mr. MacNatt was an auto-parts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/in-recent-years-they-had-fallen-in-with-a-gabby-childless-couple/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [ “\[I wrote\] '...letters designed to hide behind.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/i-wrote-letters-designed-to-hide-behind/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [The publishers, as I remember at the very beginning of my career, wrote letters with their fountain pens. A letter is different from a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-salter/the-publishers-as-i-remember-at-the-very-beginning-of-my-career-wrote/) [James Salter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-salter/) > [During the year 1894, Pierre Curie wrote me letters that seem to me admirable in their form. No one of them was very long,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-curie/during-the-year-1894-pierre-curie-wrote-me-letters-that-seem-to-me/) [Marie Curie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-curie/) > [“Still, I knew rehab was important. So I listened. I went to every class. I held hands with strangers. With suburban mummies who’d gotten…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-j-shen/still-i-knew-rehab-was-important-so-i-listened-i-went-to-every-class/) [L.J. Shen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-j-shen/) > [I had a fan who had a fictional relationship with me. She wrote letters to me and then wrote return letters to herself (from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-mcconaughey/i-had-a-fan-who-had-a-fictional-relationship-with-me-she-wrote/) [Matthew McConaughey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-mcconaughey/) > [“I know I wrote letters to people with no address on this earth, I know that you are dead. But I hear you. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ava-dellaira/i-know-i-wrote-letters-to-people-with-no-address-on-this-earth-i-know/) [Ava Dellaira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ava-dellaira/) > [“He racked his brains for a way of making his declaration. Torn all the while between fear of offending and shame at his own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/he-racked-his-brains-for-a-way-of-making-his-declaration-torn-all-the/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [My father is my biggest literary influence. Recently, I've been looking through his letters. He was in the National Guard when I was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-erdrich/my-father-is-my-biggest-literary-influence-recently-i-ve-been-looking/) [Louise Erdrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-erdrich/) ## 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 Hanging around quotes > [“It made sense, and I felt kind of stupid. I’d been hanging around dryads”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/it-made-sense-and-i-felt-kind-of-stupid-i-d-been-hanging-around-dryads/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [It is easy to have a lot of paintings or projects hanging around that are 'almost done.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-kinkade/it-is-easy-to-have-a-lot-of-paintings-or-projects-hanging-around-that/) [Thomas Kinkade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-kinkade/) > [I didn't go to university. They offered me a job as a junior reporter and I went off to work for the Southern Reporter.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-douglas/i-didn-t-go-to-university-they-offered-me-a-job-as-a-junior-reporter/) [Jill Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-douglas/) > [You can tell when someone is just trying to use you. It becomes just someone who's hanging around. Whenever someone sucks up to me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/topher-grace/you-can-tell-when-someone-is-just-trying-to-use-you-it-becomes-just/) [Topher Grace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/topher-grace/) > [“What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-salinger/what-i-was-really-hanging-around-for-i-was-trying-to-feel-some-kind/) [J.D. Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-salinger/) > [At some point I was hanging around with the Butchies - a band I ended up playing with a lot - and it just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-ray/at-some-point-i-was-hanging-around-with-the-butchies-a-band-i-ended/) [Amy Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-ray/) > [The most dangerous kind of girl involvement with gangs is one where the girls are just sort of hanging around the gang boys or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meda-chesney-lind/the-most-dangerous-kind-of-girl-involvement-with-gangs-is-one-where/) [Meda Chesney-Lind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meda-chesney-lind/) > [“He changed his final wad up at the train station. Which was a sad place now. 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It seemed my whole life was composed of these disjointed fractions of time, hanging around in one public place and then another, as if I were waiting for trains that never came. And, like one of those ghosts who are said to linger around depots late at night, asking passersby for the timetable of the Midnight Express that derailed twenty years before, I wandered from light to light until that dreaded hour when all the doors closed and, stepping from the world of warmth and people and conversation overheard, I felt the old familiar cold twist through my bones again and then it was all forgotten, the warmth, the lights; I had never been warm in my life, ever.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Donna Tartt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-before-work-in-the-library/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Hanging around" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-before-work-in-the-library/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdc/donna-tartt-391_hanging-around_i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-be_2089340.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdc/donna-tartt-391_hanging-around_i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-be_2089340.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdc/donna-tartt-391_hanging-around_i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-be_2089340.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I wrote these letters in the mornings before work, in the library, during my sessions of prolonged loitering…” — 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": "“I wrote these letters in the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-before-work-in-the-library/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-wrote-these-letters-in-the-mornings-before-work-in-the-library/#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 } } ] } ```