約翰·蓋伊
劇作家
A life without contradictions is not a life worth writing about.
The best biographies are those that make the reader feel they have met the subject in person.
最好的傳記是那些讓讀者感覺親自遇見了傳主的作品。
To understand a life, one must first understand the age in which it was lived.
要理解一個生命，必須先理解它所處的時代。
The truth about a person is often found in what they tried to hide.
關(guān)于一個人的真相，往往藏在他們試圖隱藏的東西里。
Every life contains its own mysteries, and the biographer must respect the unknowable.
每個生命都包含自己的奧秘，傳記作者必須尊重那些不可知的部分。
The biographer's challenge is to be both a detective and a poet.
傳記作者的挑戰(zhàn)在于既要成為偵探，又要成為詩人。
History is not just about facts, but about the shadows between them.
歷史不僅僅是關(guān)于事實，更是關(guān)于它們之間的陰影。
To write a life is to assemble a mosaic where some pieces are inevitably missing.
撰寫一生就像拼湊一幅馬賽克，其中一些碎片不可避免地缺失了。
The past is never dead. It's not even past.
過去從未死去，它甚至還未過去。
A great biography is a kind of pilgrimage, walking in someone else’s footsteps while trying to understand their soul.
一本偉大的傳記是一種朝圣，走在別人的足跡中，同時試圖理解他們的靈魂。