Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man's life may be best written... by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the ol...der people and the kids? A man cannot know himself better than by attending to the feelings of his heart and to his external actions, from which he may with tolerable certainty judge "what manner of person he is." I have therefore determined to keep a daily journal.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
My wife, who does not like journalizing, said it was leaving myself embowelled to posterity--a good strong figure. But I think it ...is rather leaving myself embalmed. It is certainly preserving myself.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A man's memory is bound to be a distortion of his past in accordance with his present interests, and the most faithful autobiograp...hy is likely to mirror less what a man was than what he has become.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Biographical data, even those recorded in the public registers, are the most private things one has, and to declare them openly is... rather like facing a psychoanalyst.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Such reproductions may not interest the reader; but after all, this is my autobiography, not his; he is under no obligation to rea...d further in it; he was under none to begin.... A modest or inhibited autobiography is written without entertainment to the writer and read with distrust by the reader.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There are people who can write their memoirs with a reasonable amount of honesty, and there are people who simply cannot take them...selves seriously enough. I think I might be the first to admit that the sort of reticence which prevents a man from exploiting his own personality is really an inverted sort of egotism.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »