“I had thus a private interest apart from success, and was indeed possessed of a mystery, as it were.”

Finding an inward source of meaning independent of worldly success · Autobiographical Notes, Vol. I, Prologue

• Fame
• Solitude

“I come to the conviction that autobiographic writings may be instructive to others; not to the writers.”

Suggesting that autobiography may reveal more to readers than to its author · Autobiographical Notes, Vol. I, Prologue

• Memory
• Truth

“The difficulty in separating the really important from the merely apparently important has always precipitately brought my efforts to an end.”

Recognising how hard it is to judge significance in retrospect · Autobiographical Notes, Vol. I, Prologue

• Memory
• Truth