I can't write a line without music - it provides just the right amount of distraction to keep me focused. Clearly, I still miss the noisy roommates. Stacy Schiff More Quotes by Stacy Schiff More Quotes From Stacy Schiff Power has for so long been a male construct that it distorted the shape of the first women who tried it on, only to find themselves in a sort of straitjacket. Stacy Schiff males shapes long Strangely enough, politics may just be the one realm in which having kids imposes no penalty on women. Kids are practically a necessity. For scientists, or Supreme Court justices, or chief executives, or the woman who wants to learn to fly F-l8s off an aircraft carrier, it works differently. Stacy Schiff aircraft-carriers justice kids Recently a study proved that working from a larger, less cluttered computer screen increases concentration. I could have told them that. And yes, I write first drafts with a mechanical pencil and a yellow legal pad. There's good reason for this primitive behavior: I am a crackerjack typist. My hand moves far more quickly than my brain. Stacy Schiff i-am good brain yellow For the several thousands of years before they became firefighters and physicians, women were sirens, enchantresses, snares. At times it seems as if female powerlessness is male self-preservation in disguise. And for millennia, this has made for a zero-sum game: A woman's intelligence was a man's deception. Stacy Schiff woman man intelligence women No biographical subject is ever on hold with the orthodontist. If there's a dry spell, it's your job to curtail or eliminate it. Stacy Schiff hold your job dry A woman can never be too rich or too thin, but until very, very recently, she could be too powerful, for which - if she wasn't smart enough to camouflage herself - she generally paid the price. Stacy Schiff woman never rich smart What we know about Cleopatra's looks is based purely on her coin portraits. Engraving was imperfect, and that when you are a ruler and you ask for a coin to be engraved with your likeness on it, you are probably trying to project a certain air of authority. Stacy Schiff your know you looks In 'Plutarch,' her voice begins to come out; there are actual 2,000-year-old quotes from Cleopatra, and they are sly and saucy. Stacy Schiff her out come voice By the time Florence Nightingale got her neurotic hands on Cleopatra, she had been mangled beyond recognition by both history and literature. Stacy Schiff literature time history hands I have three children, each of whom is having an idyllic childhood, probably because I have been at the office the entire time. Stacy Schiff childhood three time children For thousands of years, men have written history, so it seems to me that most of what we've read is from the male point of view. Stacy Schiff view me men history I wouldn't dare to speculate as to Cleopatra's falling in love. Her relationships are too convenient for that. Stacy Schiff falling dare falling-in-love love We're talking about, essentially, the Roman historians, who wrote Cleopatra into the story mostly so that they could talk about the rise of Rome. And that is one of the problems, of course, in recounting her life. She's only ever apparent to us when there is a Roman in the room, or when her story intersects with the rise of Rome. Stacy Schiff problems story talking life How does a woman in authority convey that authority? Is it possible for a woman to rule without sounding shrill? Is it possible for a woman to manage without manipulating? All of these things seem to me to be very much at the fore today, and were no less the case 2,000 years ago. Stacy Schiff woman things me today From every ancient source, we have testimony to Cleopatra's irresistible charm, as Plutarch has it, to her ability to speak many languages including, as he puts it, the language of flattery and essentially, to be able to turn people to her will - really a great political genius, in that respect. Stacy Schiff great respect speak people Insofar as there is an anxiety of influence for a biographer, it may be that each new book is undertaken in reaction to the previous book. Stacy Schiff new anxiety influence book I once interviewed David Herbert Donald, the Lincoln historian, and we talked about how one deals with the secondary sources and the previous biographies. He said something which kept coming back to me as I worked on Cleopatra, which was: 'There's no further new material; there are only new questions.' Stacy Schiff new questions back me In an ideal world, the perfect biographical subject would have been the star of his penmanship class at grade school - and would thereafter write an English that positively sings. Stacy Schiff english perfect world school I think with every book you realize you are partway through and there is something really elementary that you should have researched. Stacy Schiff realize think you book
