--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How can even the best novelist or…" description: "\"How can even the best novelist or playwright invent someone like Augustus Caesar or Catherine the Great, Galileo or Florence Nightingale? How can scree..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/531/margaret-macmillan-5907_action_how-can-even-the-best-novelist-or-playwr_866850.jpg" --- # How can even the best novelist or playwright invent… ![“How can even the best novelist or playwright invent someone like Augustus Caesar or Catherine the Great, Galileo or Florence Nightingale? How can screenwriters create better action stories or human dramas than exist, thousand upon thousand, throughout the many centuries of recorded history?” quote by Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/531/margaret-macmillan-5907_action_how-can-even-the-best-novelist-or-playwr_866850.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/531/margaret-macmillan-5907_action_how-can-even-the-best-novelist-or-playwr_866850.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/531/margaret-macmillan-5907_action_how-can-even-the-best-novelist-or-playwr_866850.jpg) > “How can even the best novelist or playwright invent someone like Augustus Caesar or Catherine the Great, Galileo or Florence Nightingale? How can screenwriters create better action stories or human dramas than exist, thousand upon thousand, throughout the many centuries of recorded history?” [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote questions the difficulty of creating truly original characters or narratives when history already offers countless examples. **In simple terms:** Creating new stories is hard because history is full of great figures. Key Takeaway Seek fresh perspectives, not just new characters. Themes creativity history storytelling Mood reflective inquisitive Type analytical inspirational When to use this quote - writing fiction - screenwriting - historical research - character studies Key Concepts originality character development historical influence Questions to Reflect On - What untold perspectives can you explore? - How can you reinterpret known histories? A Different Perspective Even with new angles, audiences may still compare to iconic figures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Action](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/action/) [Augustus caesar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/augustus-caesar/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Playwright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/playwright/) [Screenwriters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/screenwriters/) ## Related quotes > [“Reading is a full contact sport; we crash up against the wave of words with all of our intellectual, imaginative, and emotional resources. 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Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-c-foster/) > [ He \[Caesar Augustus\] found a city built of brick; he left it built of marble. \[Lat., Urbem lateritiam accepit, mamoream relinquit.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suetonius/he-caesar-augustus-found-a-city-built-of-brick-he-left-it-built-of/) [Suetonius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suetonius/) > [“ The Roman Calendar ROMAN MONTH: NAMED AFTER Martius: The god Mars Aprilis: The “opening” of flowers Maius: The goddess Maia Junius: The goddess…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-tolhurst/the-roman-calendar-roman-month-named-after-martius-the-god-mars/) [Marilyn Tolhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-tolhurst/) > [“For fortune having hitherto seconded him in his designs, made him resolute and firm in his opinions, and the boldness of his temper raised…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/for-fortune-having-hitherto-seconded-him-in-his-designs-made-him/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [There was a young man in Rome that was very like Augustus Caesar; Augustus took knowledge of it and sent for the man, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/there-was-a-young-man-in-rome-that-was-very-like-augustus-caesar/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [“Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all which may be guides to an outward moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/atheism-leaves-a-man-to-sense-to-philosophy-to-natural-piety-to-laws-3/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [ Luke \[the gospel writer\] screws up his dating by tactlessly mentioning events that historians are capable of independently checking. There was indeed a census… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/luke-the-gospel-writer-screws-up-his-dating-by-tactlessly-mentioning/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Around the time of the Terran Caesar Augustus, a Martian artist had been composing a work of art. It could have been called a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/around-the-time-of-the-terran-caesar-augustus-a-martian-artist-had/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [There is one passage in the Scriptures to which all the potentates of Europe seem to have given their unanimous assent and approbation…"There went…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/there-is-one-passage-in-the-scriptures-to-which-all-the-potentates-of/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [“After his death, Augustus was declared a god by the Senate, to be worshipped by the Romans. 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I am —the woman you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-winslow/i-m-not-lady-macbeth-lucrezia-borgia-catherine-the-great-i-am-a-woman/) [Don Winslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-winslow/) > [Russia's first major intervention began in 1768, when Catherine the Great went to war with the Ottomans, and Count Alexei Orlov, the brother of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-sebag-montefiore/russia-s-first-major-intervention-began-in-1768-when-catherine-the/) [Simon Sebag Montefiore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-sebag-montefiore/) > [Margaret Thatcher had more impact on the world than any woman ruler since Catherine the Great of Russia. Not only did she turn around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-johnson/margaret-thatcher-had-more-impact-on-the-world-than-any-woman-ruler/) [Paul Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-johnson/) > [Powerful women are either sexually voracious rulers like Catherine the Great or Elizabeth I, or treacherous bitches like Cleopatra or Helen of Troy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gates/powerful-women-are-either-sexually-voracious-rulers-like-catherine/) [Bill Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gates/) ## More by Margaret MacMillan > [Some might argue humans are hard-wired to fight. I don't agree: we are conscious beings who have the capacity to make decisions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/some-might-argue-humans-are-hard-wired-to-fight-i-don-t-agree-we-are/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a nationalistic one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-first-world-war-as-a-european/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Theodore Roosevelt's policy to build a two-ocean navy confirmed that the old-style isolationism of the founders had not survived the modern, increasingly globalized world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/theodore-roosevelt-s-policy-to-build-a-two-ocean-navy-confirmed-that/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Individual lives remind us that there is something called a common humanity and that, over the centuries, there have been people who have lived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/individual-lives-remind-us-that-there-is-something-called-a-common/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [The 1898 annexation of the Hawaiian Islands merely formally recognized what had long been American domination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/the-1898-annexation-of-the-hawaiian-islands-merely-formally/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“There are only two perfectly useless things in the world,” he quipped. “One is an appendix and the other is Poincaré!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/there-are-only-two-perfectly-useless-things-in-the-world-he-quipped/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“Nationalist movements often overlapped with economic and class issues: Rumanian and Ruthenian peasants, for example, challenged their Hungarian and Polish landlords.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/nationalist-movements-often-overlapped-with-economic-and-class-issues/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [How curious that such an outsize man, in physique as well as personality, should be remembered today mainly for giving his name to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/how-curious-that-such-an-outsize-man-in-physique-as-well-as/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“Part of Nietzsche’s appeal was that it was easy to read a great deal into his work, and people including socialists, vegetarians, feminists, conservatives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/part-of-nietzsche-s-appeal-was-that-it-was-easy-to-read-a-great-deal/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [The Great War was nobody's fault - or everybody's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/the-great-war-was-nobody-s-fault-or-everybody-s/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [If we do not, as historians, write the history of great events as well as the small stories that make up the past, others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/if-we-do-not-as-historians-write-the-history-of-great-events-as-well/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Many in the English-speaking world came to agree with the Germans that the Treaty of Versailles, and the reparations in particular, were unjust, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/many-in-the-english-speaking-world-came-to-agree-with-the-germans/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Women are interested in relationships and how other societies manage those relationships. 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