I once interviewed David Herbert Donald, the Lincoln historian, and we talked about how one deals with the secondary sources and the previous biographies. He said something which kept coming back to me as I worked on Cleopatra, which was:… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
Insofar as there is an anxiety of influence for a biographer, it may be that each new book is undertaken in reaction to the previous book. — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
Recently a study proved that working from a larger, less cluttered computer screen increases concentration. I could have told them that. And yes, I… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
“She did not believe Fate as painstaking as her husband; she was more inclined to take matters into her own hands. She had ample… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
What we know about Cleopatra's looks is based purely on her coin portraits. Engraving was imperfect, and that when you are a ruler and… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
No one in the modern world controls the wealth or territory that Cleopatra did. — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
“Against a powerful enchantress there is no contest. Against a woman who ensnares a man in the coils of her serpentine intelligence - in… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
Cleopatra stood at one of the most dangerous intersections in history; that of women and power. Clever women, Euripides had warned hundreds of years… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
“Nabokov complained he was afflicted with total recall, an affliction of which he could be miraculously cured by the presence of a biographer.” — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
“History existed to be retold, with more panache but not necessarily greater accuracy.” — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
“Véra assumed her married name almost as a stage name; rarely has matrimony so much represented a profession. It was one of the ironies… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
When a woman teams up with a snake a moral storm threatens somewhere. — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
The interesting thing about Cleopatra is that she is such a shape-shifter. I mean through history we've all molded her to our times and… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
Strangely enough, politics may just be the one realm in which having kids imposes no penalty on women. Kids are practically a necessity. For… — Stacy Schiff Copy Share Image
![“Véra assumed her married name almost as a stage name; rarely has matrimony so much represented a profession. It was one of the ironies of the life that – born at a time and place where women could and did lay claim to all kinds of ambitions – she should elevate the role of wife to a high art. […]…” quote by Stacy Schiff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/30f/stacy-schiff-7881_art_v-ra-assumed-her-married-name-almost-as_231770.jpg)
