Biographers Quote by Robertson Davies
““It is part of the received doctrine of modern biography that all characters are Flawed, and as a Christian priest I am quite ready to agree, but the Flaws the biographers exhibited usually meant that the person under discussion had not seen eye to eye with the biographer on matters of politics, or social betterment, or something impersonal.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, 1970
Biographers often highlight flaws, but disagreements arise from differing political or social views, not just personal defects.
In simple terms: Flaws in biographies reflect differing viewpoints.
Key Takeaway
Seek multiple perspectives when judging character.
Themes
bias
interpretation
politics
Mood
critical
thoughtful
Type
analytical
philosophical
When to use this quote
- reading biographies
- historical analysis
- political discourse
Key Concepts
literary criticism
ethical judgment
Questions to Reflect On
- What biases affect your view of others?
- How can you see beyond stated flaws?
A Different Perspective
Focusing on flaws can obscure a person's full humanity.
![“A biography should be faithful to the truth. I do not believe that a biography of a man should be all praises, it should be both [praise and criticism] because it is not bad to show the human side of a person. You make him human by painting the defects.” quote by Teodoro A. Agoncillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/faf/teodoro-a-agoncillo-18516_truth_a-biography-should-be-faithful-to-the-tr_2410032.jpg)
![“[The critic] serves up his erudition in strong doses; he pours out all the knowledge he got up the day before in some library or other, and treats in heathenish fashion people at whose feet he ought to sit, and the most ignorant of whom could give points to much wiser men than he. Authors bear…” quote by Théophile Gautier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/817/theophile-gautier-7224_books_the-critic-serves-up-his-erudition-in-st_1298491.jpg)
![“If we believe that he [Jesus Christ]really countenanced the follies, the falsehoods, and the charlatanisms, which his biographers [writers of the New Testament]father upon him, and admit the misconstructions, interpolations, and theorizations of the fathers of the early and the fanatics of the…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ba1/thomas-jefferson-43_age_if-we-believe-that-he-jesus-christ-reall_277925.jpg)
