5 Best Truman Capote Quotes

“The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call 'out there.”

The opening lines of the book, establishing the isolated setting of the crime.

“I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the minute I cut his throat.”

Perry Smith's chilling recollection of Herbert Clutter during his confession.

“A man's life is his castle. But not if he's a Clutter.”

A reflection on the shattered sense of security in Holcomb after the murders.

“He was a man who had nothing to gain, and everything to lose, by telling the truth.”

Referring to Floyd Wells, the informant whose testimony broke the case open.

“The Clutter family, Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon, were dead. All four of them. Shotguns. At close range. In their beds.”

A stark and direct statement confirming the brutal reality of the crime.