--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I had a checklist in my mind of the…" description: "\"I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a biography practical. Is the source material centralized? Is it easy to find? Are there new prima..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/terry-teachout-20913_20th-century_i-had-a-checklist-in-my-mind-of-the-thin_511894.jpg" --- # I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a… ![“I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a biography practical. Is the source material centralized? Is it easy to find? Are there new primary sources that no one has ever had access to? Are all the sources in English? If they're not, are they in a language that you speak? And I…” quote by Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/terry-teachout-20913_20th-century_i-had-a-checklist-in-my-mind-of-the-thin_511894.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/terry-teachout-20913_20th-century_i-had-a-checklist-in-my-mind-of-the-thin_511894.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6a/terry-teachout-20913_20th-century_i-had-a-checklist-in-my-mind-of-the-thin_511894.jpg) > “I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a biography practical. Is the source material centralized? Is it easy to find? Are there new primary sources that no one has ever had access to? Are all the sources in English? If they're not, are they in a language that you speak? And I realized that not only is Armstrong the most important figure of Jazz in the 20th Century, but he's a perfect subject for a biography for all of these reasons. I had always loved his music and I had been fascinated in him as a personality. And that's really the key to writing a biography.” [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author outlines practical criteria for choosing a biography subject, emphasizing source accessibility and personal relevance. **In simple terms:** Choosing a biography subject depends on source availability and personal connection. Key Takeaway Select subjects with accessible, relevant sources and personal interest. Themes research biography criteria accessibility personal connection Mood analytical thoughtful Type explanatory reflective When to use this quote - academic research - writing a biography - archival work - personal passion Key Concepts source evaluation subject relevance language considerations Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance source accessibility with narrative depth? - What personal traits make a subject compelling? A Different Perspective Limited sources may still be valuable if they offer unique insight. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Jazz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jazz/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Personality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personality/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Anyone writing a picture-book biography of Lincoln has a different set of responsibilities from someone writing a biography for sixth-graders, say, or from a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-freedman/anyone-writing-a-picture-book-biography-of-lincoln-has-a-different/) [Russell Freedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-freedman/) > [Great writing can be done in biography, history, art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-naipaul/great-writing-can-be-done-in-biography-history-art/) [V. S. Naipaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-naipaul/) > [ \[On writing biography:\] If you wish to see a person you must not start by seeing through him. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-origo/on-writing-biography-if-you-wish-to-see-a-person-you-must-not-start/) [Iris Origo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-origo/) > [When I was a boy, I began writing a biography of Shakespeare, and since then I've written a number of biographies of actors and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gyles-brandreth/when-i-was-a-boy-i-began-writing-a-biography-of-shakespeare-and-since/) [Gyles Brandreth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gyles-brandreth/) > [“Everyone is an autobiographer nowadays, it’s like everyone is actively writing their own biography all the time,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wallman/everyone-is-an-autobiographer-nowadays-it-s-like-everyone-is-actively/) [James Wallman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wallman/) > [I don't put myself into the category of 'rock star writing his biography.' That's because we live our lives by falling into experiences. Things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/art-garfunkel/i-don-t-put-myself-into-the-category-of-rock-star-writing-his/) [Art Garfunkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/art-garfunkel/) > [Live your life as if you are writing your Biography.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keshia-chante/live-your-life-as-if-you-are-writing-your-biography/) [Keshia Chante](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keshia-chante/) > [I think some authors suffer from a need to try to prove that they're clever and educated. I try not to suffer from that.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amity-shlaes/i-think-some-authors-suffer-from-a-need-to-try-to-prove-that-they-re/) [Amity Shlaes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amity-shlaes/) > [Qualities absolutely necessary for a historian: (1) Imagination. (2) Prejudice. (3) The power of writing your own biography at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-elizabeth-coleridge/qualities-absolutely-necessary-for-a-historian-1-imagination-2/) [Mary Elizabeth Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-elizabeth-coleridge/) > [Others are writing my biography, and let it rest as they elect to make it. I have lived my life, well and ill, always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clara-barton/others-are-writing-my-biography-and-let-it-rest-as-they-elect-to-make/) [Clara Barton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clara-barton/) > [I'm writing my biography. It's my business. This is what happened in my life, and I'm writing about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sammy-hagar/i-m-writing-my-biography-it-s-my-business-this-is-what-happened-in-my/) [Sammy Hagar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sammy-hagar/) > [ \[On writing biography:\] ... every human life is at once so complex and so simple, so perplexing and so clear, so superficial and so… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-origo/on-writing-biography-every-human-life-is-at-once-so-complex-and-so/) [Iris Origo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-origo/) > [Writing a biography is not a love affair. It’s not a marriage. It’s a job, it’s a piece of work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermione-lee/writing-a-biography-is-not-a-love-affair-it-s-not-a-marriage-it-s-a/) [Hermione Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermione-lee/) > [In writing biography, fact and fiction shouldn't be mixed. And if they are, the fictional points should be printed in red ink, the facts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-drinker-bowen/in-writing-biography-fact-and-fiction-shouldn-t-be-mixed-and-if-they/) [Catherine Drinker Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-drinker-bowen/) > [I try to find clues in the documented record - from the subject's own testimony, from the testimony of other people. When you're writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-freedman/i-try-to-nd-clues-in-the-documented-record-from-the-subject-s-own/) [Russell Freedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-freedman/) ## More by Terry Teachout > [“One of the advantages of no longer being young is that you're expected to start making up your mind about certain things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/one-of-the-advantages-of-no-longer-being-young-is-that-you-re/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [And Paul Moravec, not being a theater person, would always trust me when I said things that I am like, "you're going to need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/and-paul-moravec-not-being-a-theater-person-would-always-trust-me/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [Direction is the most invisible part of the theatrical art. It's not like the conductor in the symphony orchestra performance because he's standing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/direction-is-the-most-invisible-part-of-the-theatrical-art-it-s-not/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [We are born into a vast room whose walls consist of a thousand doors of possibility. Each door is flung open to the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/we-are-born-into-a-vast-room-whose-walls-consist-of-a-thousand-doors/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [Virgil Thomson, the great classical music critic, who was also a composer, but said that criticism was the only antidote he knew to pay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/virgil-thomson-the-great-classical-music-critic-who-was-also-a/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [Whether early or late, the Parker novels are all superlative literary entertainments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/whether-early-or-late-the-parker-novels-are-all-superlative-literary/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [I know that luck has a way of happening to people who shoot high, who never sell themselves short.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/i-know-that-luck-has-a-way-of-happening-to-people-who-shoot-high-who/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [It's actually now, more common to see conceptual productions of Shakespearian, which Hamlet is played as a Nazi, or a homosexual, or whatever concept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/it-s-actually-now-more-common-to-see-conceptual-productions-of/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [(R)eality TV (is) a medium dedicated to the proposition that with the help of judicious editing, carefully chosen half-wits can hold the attention of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/r-eality-tv-is-a-medium-dedicated-to-the-proposition-that-with-the/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [If I ever see another Shakespeare production where somebody drives a Jeep on stage, I'm going to run screaming up the aisle. These tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/if-i-ever-see-another-shakespeare-production-where-somebody-drives-a/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [The problem with the Jude Law "Hamlet" was simply that it wasn't unpredictable, that it was a very down-the-center modern production. You wouldn't go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/the-problem-with-the-jude-law-hamlet-was-simply-that-it-wasn-t/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [A critic should always strive to recapture the sense of wonder and surprise with which he first beheld a now-familiar work of art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/a-critic-should-always-strive-to-recapture-the-sense-of-wonder-and/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [I've always loved opera; it never occurred to me that I would write a proper libretto. One of my closest friends is a composer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/i-ve-always-loved-opera-it-never-occurred-to-me-that-i-would-write-a/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [I should also mention that the Neue Galerie is piping music into the galleries where "Klee and America" is hanging, a practice for which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/i-should-also-mention-that-the-neue-galerie-is-piping-music-into-the/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [There will be this mix of people like me who write for major national newspapers and amateur critics, practitioner critics, whose primary way of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/there-will-be-this-mix-of-people-like-me-who-write-for-major-national/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) [Explore all 30 Terry Teachout quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) ## More 20th century quotes > [I think the inhabitants of the past are fighting hard to keep the rents they acquired in the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bennet/i-think-the-inhabitants-of-the-past-are-fighting-hard-to-keep-the/) [Michael Bennet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bennet/) > [Corporate America is a 20th-century dinosaur, trembling on the edge of extinction, and the only way for you to have a genuinely secure future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kiyosaki/corporate-america-is-a-20th-century-dinosaur-trembling-on-the-edge-of/) [Robert Kiyosaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kiyosaki/) > [America thrived in the 20th century because we made high school free. We sent a generation to college. We cultivated the most educated workforce…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/america-thrived-in-the-20th-century-because-we-made-high-school-free/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [The 20th century has been marked by cynicism, selfishness, greed, and the desire to please, all without changing the status quo. In the 21st…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scar-arias/the-20th-century-has-been-marked-by-cynicism-selfishness-greed-and/) [Óscar Arias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scar-arias/) > [I've studied the lives of the 20th century's great businessmen and concluded self-confidence was instrumental in all their success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-spanos/i-ve-studied-the-lives-of-the-20th-century-s-great-businessmen-and/) [Alex Spanos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-spanos/) > [Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-mackay/universal-literacy-was-a-20th-century-goal-before-then-reading-and/) [Hugh Mackay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-mackay/) > [The great wars of the 20th Century made it into the worst Century ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-ambrose/the-great-wars-of-the-20th-century-made-it-into-the-worst-century-ever/) [Stephen Ambrose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-ambrose/) > [That is very different from how it used to be in the 20th century. Media was very one way. There's a small little industry.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-gordon-levitt/that-is-very-different-from-how-it-used-to-be-in-the-20th-century/) [Joseph Gordon-Levitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-gordon-levitt/) > [If you look back on the history of the 20th century, the 19th century or even to the ancien régime of the 18th, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zygmunt-bauman/if-you-look-back-on-the-history-of-the-20th-century-the-19th-century/) [Zygmunt Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zygmunt-bauman/) > [Up to the 20th century, we can say that this whole period was an Earth epoch, 'Earth' meaning the riches of the earth, simple…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lech-walesa/up-to-the-20th-century-we-can-say-that-this-whole-period-was-an-earth/) [Lech Walesa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lech-walesa/) > [I think this century more than any other really has seen the phenomenon of people being uprooted in such numbers, such a degree. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/i-think-this-century-more-than-any-other-really-has-seen-the/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [If you look at that incredible burst of fantastic characters that emerged in the late 19th century/early 20th century, you can see so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/if-you-look-at-that-incredible-burst-of-fantastic-characters-that/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Cruel and paradoxical though it undoubtedly is, the record shows that yje most succesful 20th century monarchs have been those who were not actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cannadine/cruel-and-paradoxical-though-it-undoubtedly-is-the-record-shows-that/) [David Cannadine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cannadine/) > [An interesting thing about New Zealand, you know, literature is that it really didn't begin in any real sense until the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/an-interesting-thing-about-new-zealand-you-know-literature-is-that-it/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [The Warmth of Other Suns is a sweeping and yet deeply personal tale of America's hidden 20th century history - the long and difficult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-brokaw/the-warmth-of-other-suns-is-a-sweeping-and-yet-deeply-personal-tale/) [Tom Brokaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-brokaw/) Browse all 672 20th century quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I had a checklist in my mind of the things that make a biography practical. 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