Sir Sidney Lee (5 December 1859 – 3 March 1926), born Solomon Lazarus Lee, was an English biographer and critic, and the second editor of the Dictionary of National Biography. He also wrote several works about William Shakespeare.
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- a purely literal interpretation of the impassioned protestations of affection for a "lovely boy", which course through the sonnets, casts a slur on the dignity of the poet's name which scarcely bears discussion
- Shakespeare's Sonnets, Facsimile of the First Edition 1609, ed. S. Lee, 1905
- I believe that the luxuriance of Shakespeare's dramatic instinct largely dominates that outburst of lyric melody which gives the Sonnets their life.
- "The Impersonal Aspect of Shakespeare's Art" (English Association Leaflet, 13, July 1909)
- Discriminating brevity is a law of the right biographic method.
- "Principles of Biography", 1911
- Reading is a wrestling with ideas greater than any we can create for ourselves. It has been said, a little extravagantly, that reading can get the better of most physical sufferings, all indeed save the pangs of hunger.
- "The Place of English Literature in the Modern University" (1913)
- He had a splendid appetite at all times, and never toyed with his food
- Of King Edward VII; "King Edward VII: a Biography", vol.2 (1927) p.408
Dictionary of National Biography, art. "William Shakespeare"
- Shakespeare's relations with men and women of the court involved him at the outset in emotional conflicts, which form the subject-matter of his 'Sonnets'
- Shakespeare avows, although in phraseology that is often cryptic, the experiences of his own heart