--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The biographies and autobiographies are…" description: "\"The biographies and autobiographies are on the whole more impressive than the fiction of the last two decades, but the freakish best sellers among them..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/harold-acton-81158_autobiography_the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are_565069.png" --- # The biographies and autobiographies are on the whole more… ![“The biographies and autobiographies are on the whole more impressive than the fiction of the last two decades, but the freakish best sellers among them are least likely to withstand the test of time.” quote by Harold Acton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/harold-acton-81158_autobiography_the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are_565069.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/harold-acton-81158_autobiography_the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are_565069.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/harold-acton-81158_autobiography_the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are_565069.png) > “The biographies and autobiographies are on the whole more impressive than the fiction of the last two decades, but the freakish best sellers among them are least likely to withstand the test of time.” [Harold Acton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-acton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Non‑fiction works tend to outshine recent fiction, yet the most popular memoirs often lack lasting value. **In simple terms:** Biographies usually impress more than recent fiction, but best‑selling memoirs may not endure. Key Takeaway Read critically and value depth over hype. Themes literature non‑fiction longevity Mood reflective analytical Type critical historical literary When to use this quote - choosing reading material - evaluating bestseller claims - preserving literary heritage Key Concepts cultural memory authenticity market trends Questions to Reflect On - What makes a non‑fiction work endure? - How do market forces affect literary quality? A Different Perspective Popularity can be fleeting and driven by trends rather than substance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Autobiographies Impressive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autobiographies-impressive-4676155/) [Autobiography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autobiography/) [Biographies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biographies/) [Decades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decades/) [Decades Freakish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decades-freakish-4676154/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction Decades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-decades-4676156/) [Impressive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impressive/) [Impressive Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impressive-fiction-4676157/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Sellers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sellers/) [Test of time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/test-of-time/) [Tests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tests/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) ## Related quotes > [The people on the QVC shopping channel convince me that life is worth living. They see the good in everything. 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Only this: Neglect. Not to see you when you stand before me. Not to think of you in the little things.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/what-kills-love-only-this-neglect-not-to-see-you-when-you-stand/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [If it so happened that I had once written a best-seller, this was a pure accident, due to inattention and naivete, and I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-it-so-happened-that-i-had-once-written-a-best-seller-this-was-a/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [My influences were Peter Sellers and the great British character actors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-ullman/my-influences-were-peter-sellers-and-the-great-british-character/) [Tracey Ullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-ullman/) > [Peter Sellers constantly reinvented himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/merrie-spaeth/peter-sellers-constantly-reinvented-himself/) [Merrie Spaeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/merrie-spaeth/) > [To me, if you are in the same building with Peter Sellers or John Cleese, or any of those guys and holding your own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-cooper/to-me-if-you-are-in-the-same-building-with-peter-sellers-or-john/) [Alice Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-cooper/) > [The problem that we have is the President himself- a President who prides himself on his own weakness and incompetence and whose love of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/femi-fani-kayode/the-problem-that-we-have-is-the-president-himself-a-president-who/) [Femi Fani-Kayode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/femi-fani-kayode/) > [I love to come in and play with a wig or glasses or clothes. I love using props. I'm from the Peter Sellers school…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-aykroyd/i-love-to-come-in-and-play-with-a-wig-or-glasses-or-clothes-i-love/) [Dan Aykroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-aykroyd/) > [“For their never-ending endeavours to obtain or retain wealth, countries desperately need companies, because they—unlike most human beings—have the means of production, and human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/for-their-never-ending-endeavours-to-obtain-or-retain-wealth/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [We have lost the good old British spirit. Instead we have American journalism and black-shirted buffoons making a cheap imitation of ice-cream sellers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-mosley/we-have-lost-the-good-old-british-spirit-instead-we-have-american/) [Oswald Mosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-mosley/) > [I consider that the Golden Rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it. Software…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-stallman/i-consider-that-the-golden-rule-requires-that-if-i-like-a-program-i/) [Richard Stallman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-stallman/) > [I know of only six genuine comic geniuses in movie history; Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Groucho Marx & Harpo Marx, Peter Sellers, and W.C.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/i-know-of-only-six-genuine-comic-geniuses-in-movie-history-charlie/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) ## More by Harold Acton > [So often is the virgin sheet of paper more real than what one has to say, and so often one regrets having marred it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-acton/so-often-is-the-virgin-sheet-of-paper-more-real-than-what-one-has-to/) [Harold Acton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-acton/) > [Some people take no mental exercise apart from jumping to conclusions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-acton/some-people-take-no-mental-exercise-apart-from-jumping-to-conclusions/) [Harold Acton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-acton/) [Explore all 3 Harold Acton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-acton/) ## More Autobiography quotes > [I think anything that anyone writes thats any good is going to have a lot of autobiography.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-adly-guirgis/i-think-anything-that-anyone-writes-thats-any-good-is-going-to-have-a/) [Stephen Adly Guirgis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-adly-guirgis/) > [“I am not and autobiographical writer--one can't be without a solid and explicable self--and read all autobiographical writers with the same curiosity. 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I know it sounds insane, but I just don't think of them as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sloane-crosley/i-don-t-really-think-of-my-essays-as-being-about-myself-i-know-it/) [Sloane Crosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sloane-crosley/) > [The way I would live my life is: never do something in real life that I would not want to write about in my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siddharth-katragadda/the-way-i-would-live-my-life-is-never-do-something-in-real-life-that/) [Siddharth Katragadda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siddharth-katragadda/) > [biography cannot be separated from autobiography: that is, the life written about is inextricably entangled with the life of the biographer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-simon/biography-cannot-be-separated-from-autobiography-that-is-the-life/) [Linda Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-simon/) > [I think I'm like most novelists in that my books have gotten farther and farther away from autobiography the longer I've been writing them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-i-m-like-most-novelists-in-that-my-books-have-gotten-farther/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [If you wish to understand me at all (and to write an autobiography is only to open a window into one's heart) you must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nellie-melba/if-you-wish-to-understand-me-at-all-and-to-write-an-autobiography-is/) [Nellie Melba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nellie-melba/) > [I want an autobiography without revealing any personal information.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-ross/i-want-an-autobiography-without-revealing-any-personal-information/) [Diana Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-ross/) > [I don't like the word 'autobiography.' 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Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) [Browse all 642 Autobiography quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autobiography/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The biographies and autobiographies are on the whole more impressive than the fiction of the last two decades, but the freakish best sellers among them are least likely to withstand the test of time.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Harold Acton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-acton/the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are-on-the-whole-more-impressive/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Autobiography" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-acton/the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are-on-the-whole-more-impressive/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/harold-acton-81158_autobiography_the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are_565069.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/harold-acton-81158_autobiography_the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are_565069.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/harold-acton-81158_autobiography_the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are_565069.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The biographies and autobiographies are on the whole more impressive than the fiction of the last two…” — Harold Acton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Harold Acton", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-acton/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The biographies and autobiographies are on...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-acton/the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are-on-the-whole-more-impressive/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-acton/the-biographies-and-autobiographies-are-on-the-whole-more-impressive/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```