The past is never truly past until it has been fully understood.

直到被完全理解，过去才真正成为过去。

A great biography should be like a portrait that captures both the light and the shadow.

伟大的传记应该像一幅肖像，既能捕捉光明也能捕捉阴影。

Letters are the biographer's gold mine; they reveal what official records conceal.

信件是传记作者的金矿；它们揭示了官方记录所隐藏的东西。

To write a life is to walk a tightrope between fact and interpretation.

撰写一生就是在事实与解读之间走钢丝。

The truth about a person is often hidden in the gaps between what they say and what they do.

一个人的真相往往隐藏在他们言行之间的缝隙里。

Every life leaves behind a trail of evidence; the biographer is the detective who follows it.

每个生命都会留下证据的痕迹；传记作者就是追踪这些痕迹的侦探。

The biographer's task is to resurrect the past, not to judge it.

传记作者的任务是复活过去，而非评判它。

Biography is the art of making the dead live again.

传记是让逝者重生的艺术。