Biography, like big game hunting, is one of the recognized forms of sport, and it is as unfair as only sport can be.

Any stigma, as the old saying is, will serve to beat a dogma.

History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.

Greatness is so often a courteous synonym for great success.

The preface is the most important part of a book. Even reviewers read a preface.

The detective story is the normal recreation of noble minds.

The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender