Biographies Quote by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
“Qualities absolutely necessary for a historian: (1) Imagination. (2) Prejudice. (3) The power of writing your own biography at the same time.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: "The Historian's Task", 1902
A historian needs imagination, bias, and self‑reflection to write history.
In simple terms: Historians must imagine, be aware of bias, and write their own story.
Key Takeaway
Balance imagination with critical self‑awareness.
Themes
history
imagination
self‑reflection
Mood
reflective
critical
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- research methodology
- academic writing
- public history
- critical analysis
Key Concepts
narrative construction
bias awareness
personal historiography
Questions to Reflect On
- How can a historian guard against personal prejudice?
- What role does imagination play in factual reconstruction?
A Different Perspective
Bias can distort objectivity if unchecked.
![“[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.” quote by Iris Origo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0c4/iris-origo-37752_biographies_on-writing-biography-every-human-life-is_778442.jpg)
![“I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. [...] I think biographies are very urgent to children.” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a53/joan-didion-497_biographies_i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-t_43631.jpg)
