--- title: "1 Armstrong Important Quotes By Terry Teachout" description: "1 Armstrong Important quotes by Terry Teachout. Plus more from Terry Teachout and more Armstrong Important sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/terry-teachout-20913_20th-century_i-had-a-checklist-in-my-mind-of-the-thin_511894.jpg" --- > [I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a biography practical. Is the source material centralized? Is it easy to find? Are there new primary sources that no one has ever had access to? Are all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/i-had-a-checklist-in-my-mind-of-the-things-that-make-a-biography/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/terry-teachout-20913_20th-century_i-had-a-checklist-in-my-mind-of-the-thin_511894.jpg) ## More by Terry Teachout > [“One of the advantages of no longer being young is that you're expected to start making up your mind about certain things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/one-of-the-advantages-of-no-longer-being-young-is-that-you-re/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [And Paul Moravec, not being a theater person, would always trust me when I said things that I am like, "you're going to need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/and-paul-moravec-not-being-a-theater-person-would-always-trust-me/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [Direction is the most invisible part of the theatrical art. It's not like the conductor in the symphony orchestra performance because he's standing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/direction-is-the-most-invisible-part-of-the-theatrical-art-it-s-not/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [We are born into a vast room whose walls consist of a thousand doors of possibility. Each door is flung open to the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/we-are-born-into-a-vast-room-whose-walls-consist-of-a-thousand-doors/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a biography practical. Is the source material centralized? Is it easy to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/i-had-a-checklist-in-my-mind-of-the-things-that-make-a-biography/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [Virgil Thomson, the great classical music critic, who was also a composer, but said that criticism was the only antidote he knew to pay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/virgil-thomson-the-great-classical-music-critic-who-was-also-a/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [Whether early or late, the Parker novels are all superlative literary entertainments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/whether-early-or-late-the-parker-novels-are-all-superlative-literary/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [I know that luck has a way of happening to people who shoot high, who never sell themselves short.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/i-know-that-luck-has-a-way-of-happening-to-people-who-shoot-high-who/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [It's actually now, more common to see conceptual productions of Shakespearian, which Hamlet is played as a Nazi, or a homosexual, or whatever concept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/it-s-actually-now-more-common-to-see-conceptual-productions-of/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [(R)eality TV (is) a medium dedicated to the proposition that with the help of judicious editing, carefully chosen half-wits can hold the attention of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/r-eality-tv-is-a-medium-dedicated-to-the-proposition-that-with-the/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [If I ever see another Shakespeare production where somebody drives a Jeep on stage, I'm going to run screaming up the aisle. These tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/if-i-ever-see-another-shakespeare-production-where-somebody-drives-a/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [The problem with the Jude Law "Hamlet" was simply that it wasn't unpredictable, that it was a very down-the-center modern production. You wouldn't go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/the-problem-with-the-jude-law-hamlet-was-simply-that-it-wasn-t/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [A critic should always strive to recapture the sense of wonder and surprise with which he first beheld a now-familiar work of art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/a-critic-should-always-strive-to-recapture-the-sense-of-wonder-and/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [I've always loved opera; it never occurred to me that I would write a proper libretto. One of my closest friends is a composer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/i-ve-always-loved-opera-it-never-occurred-to-me-that-i-would-write-a/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [I should also mention that the Neue Galerie is piping music into the galleries where "Klee and America" is hanging, a practice for which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/i-should-also-mention-that-the-neue-galerie-is-piping-music-into-the/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/armstrong-important/terry-teachout/#itemlist", "name": "1 Armstrong Important Quotes By Terry Teachout", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a biography practical. Is the source material centralized? Is it easy to find? Are there new primary sources that no one has ever had access to? Are all the sources in English? If they're not, are they in a language that you speak? And I realized that not only is Armstrong the most important figure of Jazz in the 20th Century, but he's a perfect subject for a biography for all of these reasons. I had always loved his music and I had been fascinated in him as a personality. 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