whereas in childhood ... it was the parents' judgement that mattered to the child, later on the situation becomes reversed: it is then that the opinions of one's grown-up children become what matters, as well as their kindness.

I do not think that one is likely to write a good biography unless one feels some sympathy with its subject.

Behind each biography there should always be a rich treasury of unformulated knowledge, a tapestry that has not been unrolled.

The biographer's real business - if it is not too arrogant to say so - is simply this: to bring the dead to life.

[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.

whereas in childhood ... it was the parents' judgement that mattered to the child, later on the situation becomes reversed: it is then that the opinions of one's grown-up children become what matters, as well as their kindness.

[On writing biography:] If you wish to see a person you must not start by seeing through him.