Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1944-06-01), “Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali,” Dickens, Dali & Others (1946), opening words
(Source)
The essay was originally printed in Saturday Book magazine, but the publisher decided it had to be "suppressed on grounds of obscenity" and had the essay physically cut out of each printed copy.
The passage is referring to, among others, Dali's The Secret Life of Salvador Dali (1942).