104 Biography Quotes for You to Enjoy

I think biography can be more personal than fiction, and certainly can be more expressive. Peter Ackroyd

Think More Than Personal Fiction Certainly Expressive Biography

In Peter Ackroyd's book 'London: The Biography,' he describes the route of the medieval wall that enclosed the original city. Take the book and follow it from the Tower of London via the Barbican to Ludgate Hill. You experience the real history of London. Peter Capaldi

Sometimes if biography is too head-on, it can feel too obvious. Peter Morgan

Sometimes Too Head-On Feel Obvious Biography

Biography, like big game hunting, is one of the recognized forms of sport, and it is as unfair as only sport can be. Philip Guedalla

Game Big Unfair Recognized Hunting Only Like Sport Forms Biography

At night, I read. I read for two hours. I just finished a marvelous book by Louise Erdrich, 'The Round House.' But mostly I read 20th-century history and biography. I lived then. I was either a child or at school or at work. Philip Roth

I rely on my iPad for on-the-go entertainment. I stock it with TV shows, like 'Parks and Recreation' and the British version of 'The Office.' I'm reading a Charles Manson biography on it too, since I'm weirdly into true crime. Phoebe Tonkin

I've only cried at one book, but I'm too embarrassed to tell you which. It wasn't terribly intellectual. I will admit, though, to crying when I've read books aloud to my elementary class. We read a biography of Gandhi once, and it was very difficult to read the part where Gandhi was killed, because they were waiting for a happy ending. Rebecca Makkai

You Class Happy Waiting Book Ending Will Difficult Too Cried Books Once One Book Though Embarrassed Tell Admit Only Part Aloud Crying Read Terribly Because Were Intellectual Very Where Which Happy Ending Gandhi Elementary Biography

Of all the species of literary composition, perhaps biography is the most delightful. The attention concentrated on one individual gives a unity to the materials of which it is composed, which is wanting in general history. Robert Hall

History Unity Composed Composition General Gives Delightful Individual Attention Concentrated Perhaps Most Materials Wanting Literary Which Species Biography

I was obsessed with Lil' Bow Wow growing up, and you couldn't see the white of my walls because they were plastered with his photos. This is even more embarrassing: I had a notebook full of facts about Bow Wow and different pictures. I basically made a biography notebook about him and his life when he was, like, 13. Samira Wiley

Life You Walls Made White Embarrassing Photos Wow See About More Facts Had He Obsessed Pictures Like Bow Him Because Were His Up Different Notebook Full Even Growing Growing Up Biography Basically

I'm not spitting in my own soup, I love having spent my life thinking about these things-but you don't have to know anything about his life, even though I've just written a biography! Stephen Greenblatt

I just want to be really clear about this: Anyone who has read Colin Powell's biography - there's an entire section where he talks about experiencing segregation. Colin Powell did not appear when he became head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That's not how it happened. Ta-Nehisi Coates

Colin Colin Powell Section Entire About Segregation Joint He Clear Head Read Became Talks How Chiefs Did Just Staff Where Want Anyone Experiencing Happened Really Who Appear Biography

I often tell people who want to write historical fiction: don't read all that much about the period you're writing about; read things from the period that you're writing about. There's a tendency to stoke up on a lot of biography and a lot of history, and not to actually get back to the original sources. Thomas Mallon

History You People Writing Back Tell About Tendency Write Period Read Sources Lot Historical Historical Fiction Up Stoke Get Often Want Fiction Much Who Original Actually Things Biography

The late Tom Wicker's biography of Nixon, called 'One of Us,' is really quite good: you see the biographer discovering dimensions of sympathy for his subject that he hadn't expected to feel. Thomas Mallon

Good You Sympathy Late Dimensions Nixon See He Feel His Subject Discovering Expected Quite Us Really Tom Biography

The most frequent thing people said to me about Princess Diana when I was conducting interviews for my biography was that she could create a circle of intimacy in the middle of a crowd. Tina Brown

Mills insisted that a sociologist's proper subject was the intersection of biography and history. Todd Gitlin

History Insisted Proper Subject Biography Mills Intersection

The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this incompleteness. V. S. Naipaul

Will Writer Always Autobiography Even Biography

Great writing can be done in biography, history, art. V. S. Naipaul

Art Great History Writing Done Biography

One good anecdote is worth a volume of biography. William Ellery Channing

Good Worth Anecdote Volume Biography

I view my records as a personal biography. Jose Jose

Records Personal View Biography

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