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Biography
see also Autobiography
- And kept his heart a secret to the end
From all the picklocks of biographers.of Robert E. Lee1898–1943 American poet and novelist: John Brown's Body (1928) - The Art of Biography
Is different from Geography.
Geography is about Maps,
But Biography is about Chaps.1875–1956 English writer: Biography for Beginners (1905) introduction - A well-written Life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.1795–1881 Scottish historian and political philosopher: Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838) ‘Jean Paul Friedrich Richter’
- Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.Emerson1804–81 British Tory statesman and novelist; Prime Minister 1868, 1874–80: Contarini Fleming (1832) pt. 1, ch. 23; see
- There is properly no history; only biography.Disraeli1803–82 American philosopher and poet: Essays (1841) ‘History’; see
- Many brave men lived before Agamemnon's time; but they are all, unmourned and unknown, covered by the long night, because they lack their sacred poet.bc Roman poet: Odes bk. 4, no. 9, l. 2565–8
- Nobody can write the life of a man, but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.1709–84 English poet, critic, and lexicographer: James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 31 March 1772
- Seek not to question other than
The books I leave behind.1865–1936 English writer and poet: ‘The Appeal’ (1940) - Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.1807–82 American poet: ‘A Psalm of Life’ (1838) - The biographer at work, indeed, is like the professional burglar.1934– American writer: Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes (1994)
- Discretion is not the better part of biography.1880–1932 English biographer: Michael Holroyd Lytton Strachey vol. 1 (1967) preface
- Then there is my noble and biographical friend who has added a new terror to death.on Lord Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors being written without the consent of heirs or executors1770–1846 English lawyer and politician: Lord St Leonards Misrepresentations in Campbell's Lives of Lyndhurst and Brougham (1869); also attributed to Lord Lyndhurst (1772–1863)
- Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography.1854–1900 Irish dramatist and poet: Intentions (1891) ‘The Critic as Artist’ pt. 1