The biographer has two lives: The one she leads, and the one she ultimately understands. Download Download Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Rotate quotes biographer lead live
Certainly, I am writing as a 21st-century woman, so I am much more inclined to view her as a three-dimensional woman. I think we keep coming up with this stubborn problem of a woman being judged by her appearance rather than her accomplishments. We are much more inclined to ask: was Cleopatra beautiful? Stacy Schiff 21staccomplishmentappearance share on social
Reality does not easily give up meaning; it's the biographer's job to clobber it into submission. You're meant not only to tame it but to extract substance, to identify cause and axiomatic effect. You subsist on the tactical omissions, the hollow words, the oddly unconnected dots. Stacy Schiff axiomaticbiographerclobber share on social
How does a woman in authority convey that authority? Is it possible for a woman to rule without sounding shrill? Is it possible for a woman to manage without manipulating? All of these things seem to me to be very much at the fore today, and were no less the case 2,000 years ago. Stacy Schiff 000agoauthority share on social
To the biographer all lives bar none are dramatic constructions. Katharine Anthony barbiographerconstruction Change image and share on social
It's very hard to play the straight lead girl and still make her sparkly and fun and real. Emily Blunt fungirlhard Change image and share on social
It is only when you watch the dense mass of thousands of ants, crowded together around the Hill, blackening the ground, that you begin to see the whole beast, and now you observe it thinking, planning, calculating. It is an intelligence, a kind of live computer, with crawling bits for its wits. Lewis Thomas antbeastbegin share on social