Elia Kazan Quotes

I never thought I would write an autobiography, probably because my first novel, Go Now, is really all drawn from my life, even though it's more about the psychology going on.

The record of one's life must needs prove more interesting to him who writes it than to him who reads what has been written.

I have begun writing what I have said I'd never write, a memoir ("I am not my own subject," I used to say with icy superiority).

It is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life.

Unfortunately, creative people are at their most creative when writing their autobiographies.

I'm writing my biography. It's my business. This is what happened in my life, and I'm writing about it.

I think at the age of 50, everyone should write their own autobiography.

Somebody said, "Well, you're going to write your definitive book about your life, biography." No, I'm not. I haven't done that. I wrote a book of letters which gives an insight into the real me as opposed to the public perceptions of me. But I'm convinced historians will figure out the things we got wrong and hopefully the things we got right.

I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people who have either entirely lost their memories, or have never done anything worth remembering.

The urge to write one's autobiography, so I have been told, overtakes everyone sooner or later.

I’m frequently asked why I don’t write my memoirs. I think I have.

The autobiographical doesn't interest me. I could think of few things less interesting than rooting about in my life.

I write a lot about my experiences and the people I meet. I've got a lot of material. But a book about me? It seems sort of odd.

An autobiography usually reveals nothing bad about its writer except his memory.

Anyone who attempts to relate his life loses himself in the immediate. One can only speak of another.

I'm not fond of biographies. I don't like writing about myself.

One of the most attractive things about writing your autobiography is that you're not dead.

My work is purely autobiographical... It is about myself and my surroundings.

I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead.

I told my whole life story in my book.

I write about my life.

There's no biography so interesting as the one in which the biographer is present.

Anyone can write your own life story.

You write an autobiography because you want to tell people how you felt about a certain matter at that time.

I don't think I necessarily am prepared to write about anybody else's life but mine.