Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow.
Benjamin DisraeliRead
I think that an author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children.
Interpretation
What this quote means
An author discussing their own work is often seen as self-serving, much like a mother overly praising her children.
In this quote, Benjamin Disraeli suggests that when authors promote their own books, it can come off as biased and insincere, similar to a mother who excessively boasts about her children's accomplishments. This implies that a level of humility and restraint is more admirable, as it allows the quality of the work to speak for itself rather than relying on the author's personal endorsement, which may not be taken seriously by others.
Themes
AuthorshipSelf-PromotionHumilityLiteratureOpinion
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of objective criticism in literature, this quote can be used to emphasize the need for authors to let their works speak for themselves.
More from Benjamin Disraeli
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Yes, I am a Jew and when the ancestors of the right honorable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon.
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The practice of politics in the East may be defined by one word: dissimulation.
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