Philip Guedalla

Philip Guedalla (March 12, 1889 December 16, 1944) was a British barrister, and a popular historical and travel writer and biographer. He is remembered now mainly for a biography of the Duke of Wellington, and his wit and epigrams, one example being "Even reviewers read a Preface," another being "History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other." He also was the originator of a now-common theory on Henry James, writing that "The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender".

3 Quotes

Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium.
— Philip Guedalla

I had always imagined that Clich? was a suburb of Paris, until I discovered it to be a street in Oxford.
— Philip Guedalla

History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.
— Philip Guedalla