Dickens never joined a political party nor put forward a political programme. He was a writer who rightly saw his power as… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
When dealing with a subject who is dead, you have this feeling of being God. You know who they're going to marry,… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
By the time I went up to Cambridge, I was extremely quiet and well behaved, although I now meet people who remember… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
I have been fascinated by Dickens worshippers who strenuously deny that he did anything wrong in relation to his wife, even though… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
One of my most vivid memories of the mid-1950s is of crying into a washbasin full of soapy grey baby clothes -… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
I belong to the Richmond Concert Society, who put on very good concerts. — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
People who attack biography choose as their models vulgar and offensive biography. You could equally attack novels or poems by choosing bad… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
“Poor Nelly, she was not to know that fashions in sin change as much as other fashions.” — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
I continually get more information about a subject after the book has been published. — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
I was working at the 'Evening Standard' when I heard that there was a job going as deputy literary editor on the 'New Statesman.'… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
I've behaved badly in my life. I hope I haven't behaved as badly as Dickens! In a way, if you're a woman, you're not… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
Simon Russell Beale is an incomparable speaker of Shakespeare and a superb all-round actor. — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
I sometimes think that, since I started writing biographies, I've had more of a life in books than I have had in my real… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
Poetry was one of the things that interested me most as I was growing up. I used to write it in my head all… — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
Biographers search for traces, for evidence of activity, for signs of movement, for letters, for diaries, for photographs. — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
You become more tolerant when you become older. You're not interested in rapping people over the knuckles; you're interested in understanding them. — Claire Tomalin Copy Share Image
