Biographies Quotes - Page 17

• The great lesson of biography is to show what man can be and do at his best. A noble life put fairly on record acts like an inspiration to others.

  Samuel Smiles

  Inspiration, Men, Noble

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.269

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• There is no real escape from autobiography into biography. The self has to be faced, or we die.

  Fay Weldon

  Real, Self, Autobiography

  Fay Weldon (2014). “Fay Weldon Omnibus: Collected Works of Fay Weldon”, p.1365, Head of Zeus

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• Paintings invariably sum up; photographs usually do not. Photographic images are pieces of evidence in an ongoing biography or history. And one photograph, unlike one painting, implies that there will be others.

  Susan Sontag

  Photography, Ongoing, Pieces

  Susan Sontag (1983). “A Susan Sontag reader”, Vintage

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• I enjoy reading biographies because I want to know about the people who messed up the world.

  Marie Dressler

  Reading, People, World

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• A good biography is the richest experience. When you watch a TV series together with someone is like being in a novel with them.

  Darcey Steinke

  Together, Tvs, Watches

  "Road Trip". Interview with Ali Liebegott, logger.believermag.com. October 25, 2013.

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• Most people when they have autobiographies, they're not autobiographies, they're biographies written by a ghost writer.

  Jeff Dunham

  People, Ghost, Autobiography

  TheCelebrityCafe.com interview, thecelebritycafe.com. November 23, 2011.

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• A woman's biography - with about eight famous historical exceptions - so often turns out to be the story of a man and the woman who helped his career.

  Catherine Drinker Bowen

  Women, Eight, Careers

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• if I believed that the choice lay between a sacrifice of the completest order of biography and that of the inviolability of private epistolary correspondence, I could not hesitate for a moment. I would keep the old and precious privacy,-the inestimable right of every one who has a friend and can write to him, - I would keep our written confidence from being made biographical material, as anxiously as I would keep our spoken conversation from being noted down for the good of society.

  Harriet Martineau

  Writing, Sacrifice, Order

  Harriet Martineau (1845). “Life in the Sick-room: Essays”, p.92

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• Biography is the medium through which the remaining secrets of the famous dead are taken from them and dumped out in full view of the world. The biographer at work, indeed, is like the professional burglar, breaking into a house, rifling through certain drawers that he has good reason to think contain the jewelry and money, and triumphantly bearing his loot away.

  Janet Malcolm

  Taken, Thinking, Views

  Janet Malcolm (2011). “Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath And Ted Hughes”, p.12, Granta Books

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• I have always liked reading biographies. It is the ideal literary genre for someone too prim, like me, to acknowledge a gossipy interest in the living - don't you hate gossips, aren't they too awful? - but avid for any nuggets from the private lives of the dead because that is perfectly respectable, an altogether worthy and informative way of spending one's time.

  Jill Tweedie

  Hate, Reading, Avid

  Jill Tweedie (1980). “It's only me: pieces from a column”, Robson Books Limited

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• Occasionally a single anecdote opens a character; biography has its comparative anatomy, and a saying or a sentiment enables the skilful hand to construct the skeleton.

  Robert Aris Willmott

  Character, Skeletons, Hands

  Robert Aris Willmott (1858). “Summer Time in the Country”, p.44

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• biographies are a little like marriages: You only have room in your life for one or two.

  Phyllis Rose

  Two, Littles, Rooms

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• Behind each biography there should always be a rich treasury of unformulated knowledge, a tapestry that has not been unrolled.

  Iris Origo

  Rich, Should, Treasury

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• [On writing biography:] If you wish to see a person you must not start by seeing through him.

  Iris Origo

  Writing, Wish, Persons

  Iris Origo (1984). “A Need to Testify”, p.37, Helen Marx Books

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• I do not think that one is likely to write a good biography unless one feels some sympathy with its subject.

  Iris Origo

  Writing, Thinking, Feels

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• [On writing biography:] ... every human life is at once so complex and so simple, so perplexing and so clear, so superficial and so profound, that any attempt to present it as a unified, consistent whole, to enclose it within a rigid frame, inevitably tempts one to cheat or to falsify.

  Iris Origo

  Writing, Simple, Profound

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• Somebody said, "Well, you're going to write your definitive book about your life, biography." No, I'm not. I haven't done that. I wrote a book of letters which gives an insight into the real me as opposed to the public perceptions of me. But I'm convinced historians will figure out the things we got wrong and hopefully the things we got right.

  George H. W. Bush

  Real, Book, Writing

  "Transcript: George H.W. Bush on "FOX News Sunday". "FOX News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, www.foxnews.com. November 4, 2007.

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• What's bad about my biography? My father was a worker, my brothers, too, and I have always honestly served my country.

  Ivan Bagramyan

  Country, Brother, Father

  "The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad". Book by by Harrison E. Salisbury, p.112, 2003.

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• If it had taught them nothing else, twenty years of living past high school had taught them self-preservation. ... No one was going to risk putting his ego on the line; they would come prepared with dates, flattering clothes, and a well-rehearsed, carefully edited biography. They would all be kind to each other. High school was enough torture for one lifetime.

  Sharyn McCrumb

  School, Past, Self

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• My first biography written in '73 was not 'Journey To The Moon.' It was 'Return To Earth.' Because for me, that was the more difficult task - disappointment.

  Buzz Aldrin

  Disappointment, Moon, Journey

  "People Share Moon Landing Memories On YouTube Channel". "Weekend Edition Saturday" with Scott Simon, www.npr.org. July 19, 2014.

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• An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man; as, monachism of the Hermit Anthony, the Reformation of Luther, Quakerism of Fox, Methodism of Wesley, abolition of Clarkson. Scipio, Milton called "the height of Rome;" and all history resolves itself easily into the biography of a few stout and earnest persons. Let a man, then, know his worth, and keep things under his feet.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Rome, Feet

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• Live your life as if you are writing your Biography.

  Keshia Chante

  Writing, Live Your Life, Ifs

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• biography cannot be separated from autobiography: that is, the life written about is inextricably entangled with the life of the biographer.

  Linda Simon

  Autobiography, Biographers, Written

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• If you read the biography of any great man, you will always notice two things: His mother's contribution in his progress and his teacher's contribution in his growth and development.

  Narendra Modi

  Education, Mother, Teacher

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• Sin in the Second City is a masterful history lesson, a harrowing biography, and - best of all - a superfun read. The Everleigh story closely follows the turns of American history like a little sister. I can't recommend this book loudly enough.

  Darin Strauss

  Book, Cities, Little Sister

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