Andre Maurois

André Maurois – Life, Writings, and Enduring Legacy

André Maurois (1885–1967), born Émile Herzog, was a French novelist, biographer, and essayist famed for blending narrative flair with biographical insight. Learn about his life, key works, methods, and memorable quotations.

Introduction

André Maurois was one of the foremost French literary figures of the 20th century. He navigated multiple genres—novel, biography, essay, history—and brought to each a readability, moral sensibility, and narrative grace that made serious literature accessible. He believed a biography should read like a novel, not a dry chronicle, and many of his biographical works—on Shelley, Byron, Disraeli, Balzac, etc.—remain widely read.

Early Life & Background

• André Maurois was born Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog on 26 July 1885 in Elbeuf, Normandy, France.

• His family was of Jewish origin; his parents, Ernest Herzog and Alice Lévy-Rueff, came from Alsace and had relocated after the Franco-Prussian War, establishing a textile business in Elbeuf.

• He studied at the Lycée Pierre-Corneille de Rouen and showed early literary promise.

• Early in life he was influenced by the philosopher Alain (Émile Chartier), who shaped his aesthetic and moral ideas.

Although he came from a business family, he gravitated toward writing rather than industrial management—as he later portrayed in his fictional work Bernard Quesnay.

Career & Literary Work

Wartime Service & Early Literary Breakthrough

• During World War I, Maurois served as an interpreter and liaison officer for the French army, especially attached to British forces.

• His first major success was Les Silences du colonel Bramble (1918), in which he fictionalized his British army experiences with wit and observation. This was translated into English as The Silence of Colonel Bramble.

• He also published Les discours du docteur O’Grady (1922), continuing with Anglophile themes and cross-cultural characterizations.

Novels, Essays & Biographies

• Maurois authored a number of novels—among them Climats (1928), Les Roses de septembre, Bernard Quesnay, Le Cercle de famille.

• Over time, his reputation became particularly tied to biography. He wrote engaging and humane biographies of authors and historical figures: Shelley, Byron, Disraeli, Victor Hugo, George Sand, Balzac, Alexander Fleming, among others.

• He also produced essays, histories, works for younger readers, and speculative fiction (e.g. Le Peseur d’âmes)

• In 1938, he was elected to the Académie française, occupying chair 26.

World War II & Later Life

• In the Second World War, Maurois served the French cause, acting as Official Observer attached to British General Headquarters, and later with the Free French Forces.

• During the German occupation of France, he left for England and the United States, working in propaganda and writing.

• His pseudonym “André Maurois” became his legally adopted name in 1947 (replacing Herzog).

• He continued writing prolifically until late in life. He died 9 October 1967 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

Literary Style & Themes

• Maurois’s style is known for clarity, elegance, and accessibility. He balanced literary quality with narrative appeal.

• His biographies are particularly distinguished by combining factual accuracy with novelistic structure—emphasizing the human dimensions of his subjects.

• He had a notable affinity for English sensibilities, and many of his early successes revolve around English characters, cross-cultural exchanges, or British settings.

• He often explored themes of identity, duty vs. art, love and temperament, and the tension between personal aspirations and social obligations.

Legacy & Influence

• Maurois remains widely read, especially his biographies in French and in translation.

• He helped define the modern French biographical genre—making lives of writers and statesmen approachable especially for general readers.

• His works continue to be studied in literary, historical, and translation studies.

• Several of his creations were adapted in film and television (for example Climats).

Selected Quotes

Here are a few quotations attributed to André Maurois that capture his tone and insight:

• “One of the greatest risks in life is trusting oneself.”

• “Patience, I believe, is the best remedy for every trouble.”

• “To understand a person, you must search for both the advertisement of his virtues and the silences of his faults.”

• “Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”

• “Life is too short to waste on hatred, too precious to squander on fear.”

(Keep in mind that some attributions may vary in wording across translations.)