"People who jump to conclusions rarely alight on them."

"Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium."

"Autobiography is an unrivaled vehicle for telling the truth about other people."

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

"Any stigma will do to beat a dogma."

"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."

"Success is little more than a chemical compound of man with moment."

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

"History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other."

"Greatness is so often a courteous synonym for great success."