Iris Origo

Just as, in travel, one may miss seeing the sunset because one cannot find the ticket-office or is afraid of missing the…

— Iris Origo

I write because, exacting as it may be to do so, it is still more difficult to refrain, and because - however…

— Iris Origo

I believe that every life , irrespective of its events and setting, holds something of unique value, which it should be possible…

— Iris Origo

[On writing biography:] ... every human life is at once so complex and so simple, so perplexing and so clear, so superficial…

— Iris Origo

Behind each biography there should always be a rich treasury of unformulated knowledge, a tapestry that has not been unrolled.

— Iris Origo

We are being governed by the dregs of the nation - and their brutality is so capricious that no one can feel…

— Iris Origo

whereas in childhood ... it was the parents' judgement that mattered to the child, later on the situation becomes reversed: it is…

— Iris Origo

while it is certainly the biographer's business to describe the foibles, passions and idiosyncrasies which make his subject a person, his work…

— Iris Origo

I do not think that one is likely to write a good biography unless one feels some sympathy with its subject.

— Iris Origo

I believe, not theoretically, but from direct personal experience, that very few of the things that happen to us are purposeless or…

— Iris Origo

The biographer's real business - if it is not too arrogant to say so - is simply this: to bring the dead…

— Iris Origo

[On writing biography:] If you wish to see a person you must not start by seeing through him.

— Iris Origo