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.