BIOGRAPHY

Related Subject: History

1. There is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a biography, the life of a man; also, it may be said, there is no life of a man, faithfully recorded, but is a heroic poem of its sort, rhymed or unrhymed.—CARLYLE, Sir Walter Scott
   

2. The biographer has this problem set before him: to delineate a likeness of the earthly pilgrimage of a man.—CARLYLE, Sir Walter Scott
   

3. If an individual is really of consequence enough to have his life and character recorded for public remembrance, we have always been of the opinion that the public ought to be made acquainted with all the inward springs and relations of his character.—CARLYLE, Burns
   

4. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.—CARLYLE, Heroes & Hero-Worship
   

5. Read no history, nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.—DISRAELI
   

6. It seems to me much better to read a man's own writing than to read what others say about him, especially when the man is first-rate and the "others" are third-rate.—GEORGE ELIOT, Life and Letters
   

7. The real source of all biography is the confession of the man himself to somebody.—EMERSON, Lectures

8. There is properly no History; only Biography.—EMERSON, History
   

9. The poor dear dead have been laid out in vain;
   Turn'd into cash, they are laid out again!—THOMAS HOOD, On Reading a Diary Lately Published
   

10. A great interpreter of life ought not himself to need interpretation.JOHN MORLEY, Emerson
    

11. What would become of all historical research and all biographies if they were always written with consideration for people's feelings?—R. H. SCHAUFFLER,
    The Unknown Brahms
    

12. Noble examples stir us up to noble actions, and the very history of large and public souls inspires a man with generous thoughts.—SENECA
    

13. After my death I wish no other herald,
    No other speaker of my living actions,
    To keep mine honour from corruption,
    But such an honest chronicler as Griffith.—SHAKESPEARE, Henry VIII
    

14. A man who leaves memoirs, whether well or badly written, provided they be sincere, renders a service to future psychologists and writers.—SIENKIEWICZ, Without Dogma
    

15. A good portrait is a kind of biography, and neither painter nor biographer can carry out his task satisfactorily unless he be admitted behind the scenes.—ALEXANDER SMITH, Dreamthorp

16. Make bare the poor dead secrets of his heart,
    Strip the stark-naked soul, that all may peer,
    Spy, smirk, sniff, snap, snort, snivel, snarl, and sneer.—SWINBURNE, In Sepulcretis
    

17. In these days a man is nobody unless his biography is kept so far posted up that it may be ready for the national breakfast-table on the morning after his demise.—ANTHONY TROLLOPE, Doctor Thorne