Greatness is so often a courteous synonym for great success.

History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.

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.

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.

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