Biographies Quote by Iris Origo

“[On writing biography:] ... every human life is at once so complex and so simple, so perplexing and so clear, so superficial and so profound, that any attempt to present it as a unified, consistent whole, to enclose it within a rigid frame, inevitably tempts one to cheat or to falsify.”

Iris Origo

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.8 out of 5 (7 ratings)

Biographies Cheat Clear Complexes Consistent Human life Humans Life Life is Profound Simple Superficial Unified Whole Writing

More by 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 train, so…

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

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

Iris Origo

Image

Explore all 12 Iris Origo quotes

More Biographies quotes

Don't be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don't let others discourage you or tell you that you can't do it. In…

Gertrude B. Elion

Image

The last act in the biography of the hero is that of the death or departure.

Joseph Campbell

Image

If I were entering adulthood now instead of in the environment of fifty years ago, I would choose a career that kept me in…

Charles Lindbergh

Image

I have my own biography of Gram Parsons - I don't want to be part of somebody else's.

Emmylou Harris

Image

Biographies of great, but especially of good men are most instructive and useful as helps, guides, and incentives to others. Some of the best…

Samuel Smiles

Image

All Philosophy is Biography

Peter J. Carroll

Image

Life is a biography, not a series of disconnected moments, more or less pleasurable but increasingly tedious and unsatisfying unless one imposes a purposive…

Theodore Dalrymple

Image

I hope any poem I've ever written could stand on its own and not need to be a part of biography, critical theory or…

Albert Goldbarth

Image

The richly cadenced prose is hypnotic, the research prodigious, the analysis acute, the mood spellbinding, and the cast of characters mythic in scale. I…

Ron Chernow