Tag Archives: autobiography
The Pinnacle of Evolution
“Each people is, I believe, inclined to believe it is the purpose of history, that all that has happened is leading to the now, to this world, this country. Few of us see ourselves as fleeting phantoms on a much wider screen, or that our great cities may someday be dug from the ruins by …
We do not at present educate people to think but, rather, to have opinions…
Excerpted from Education of a Wandering Man: A Memoir by Louis L’Amour ©1989: Acquiring an education has many aspects, of which school is only one, and the present approach is, I believe, the wrong one. Without claiming to have all the answers, I can only express my feeling that our methods of instruction do much …
An Incomplete Education
“Unfortunately, in most of our schools the history of Europe and North America is taught as if it were the history of the world. The rest of the world is referred to only when Europeans or Americans were invading or trading. There has recently been a small change for the better but not nearly enough.” …
Time
“A mistake constantly made by those who should know better is to judge people of the past by our standards rather than their own. The only way men and women can be judged is against the canvas of their own time.” ~from Education of a Wandering Man: A Memoir by Louis L’Amour ©1989 Paul Laurence …
No Limit
“It is often said that one has but one life to live, but that is nonsense. For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography, and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time.” …
“He just didn’t know any other way.”
Steve Parish was a roadie for the Grateful Dead and manager for the Jerry Garcia Band. His 2003 autobiography, Home Before Daylight: My Life on the Road With the Grateful Dead, is about his own life and experiences. It’s not a tell-all by any means, but of course his story overlaps with theirs. His stories …
Swindell Swindle
In this excerpt from David Brinkley’s autobiography, titled simple David Brinkley: A Memoir, ©1995, he remembers his first job, at the age of twelve, in the 1930s: Mr. Swindell explained to me that the A&P sold butter in two forms– “print” butter in quarter-pound sticks wrapped in paper printed with the dairy’s name, and a …
And I Knew Before I Answered
In this excerpt from Wunnerful, Wunnerful! the Autobiography of Lawrence Welk, © 1971, Welk discusses the grief and disorientation he felt when he lost his mother: It was in Pittsburgh that I got the telegram. “Come home at once. Mother is dying.” I stood holding the telegram in my hands, sick at heart, remembering a …
Vulnerable Human Beings
In this excerpt from Wunnerful, Wunnerful! the Autobiography of Lawrence Welk, © 1971, Welk discusses the lesson he learned when his first band left him to tour on their own: Some of the bewilderment and pain began to lift the moment I returned (home) to Yankton, and a day or so later when I dropped …
Brushed My Hair Back
In this excerpt from Wunnerful, Wunnerful! the Autobiography of Lawrence Welk, © 1971, he talks about how hard it was for him to express his emotions verbally: I had always thought my mother was beautiful, but she looked especially so to me as she held (my newborn daughter) Shirley for the first time. She settled …
Change, Conquer or Exploit
Excerpted from Plain and Simple: A Woman’s Journey to the Amish by Sue Bender, ©1989: “Why is the Amish land so beautiful?” I asked one evening. “What makes it feel special? I’m a city person, Eli, and I didn’t see a cow till I was twelve. I don’t know where the sun sets, or how …
The Things They Hold Precious
Another excerpt from If I Knew Then What I Know Now– So What? by Estelle Getty, ©1988: As a student of human nature, I love to people-watch. It’s also essential to my craft– I’ll pick things up I see on the street and incorporate them into my roles. It was my idea, for instance, for …
