Biographies Quote by Samuel Johnson

[On writing biography:] ... every human life is at once so complex and so simple, so perplexing and so clear, so superficial and so…

— Iris Origo

“In many ways. . .the completeness of biography, the achievement of its professionalization, is an ironic fiction, since no life can ever be known…

— Ira Bruce Nadel

Of all the species of literary composition, perhaps biography is the most delightful. The attention concentrated on one individual gives a unity to the…

— Robert Hall

I think biography can be more personal than fiction, and certainly can be more expressive.

— Peter Ackroyd

Why do we read biography? Why do we choose to write it? Because we are human beings, programmed to be curious about other human…

— Claire Tomalin

We're all story-telling creatures, and also I think that's the point about biography because the life is exemplary.

— Rachel Holmes

“A biography should be faithful to the truth. I do not believe that a biography of a man should be all praises, it should…

— Teodoro A. Agoncillo

“Writing is emblematic art form, which means that the book will never be any greater than the writer’s ability to perceive, classify, and describe…

— Kilroy J. Oldster

Everything I write doesn't appear to be biography until later. I often say that I've never written about anything I've experienced. Of course, that's…

— Suzan-Lori Parks

I find that biographical material holds me back, hampers my creative process, cramps my imagination.

— Yuriy Tarnawsky

“As a writer you slant all evidence in favor of the conclusions you want to produce and you rarely tilt in favor of the…

— Bret Easton Ellis

The craft of writing is the art of penetrating other minds with the figures that are in your own mind.

— John Steinbeck