Titu Liviu Maiorescu (Romanian: [ˈtitu majoˈresku]; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic, politician and founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century.

A member of the Conservative Party, he was Foreign Minister between 1910 and 1914 and Prime Minister of Romania from 1912 to 1913. He represented Romania at the Peace Conference in Bucharest that ended the Second Balkan War. In politics as in culture he favoured Germany over France. He opposed Romania's entry in World War I against Germany, but he nevertheless refused to collaborate with the German army after it had occupied Bucharest.

Titu Liviu Maiorescu was born in Craiova, on 15 February 1840. Maiorescu's mother, born Maria Popazu, was the sister of the scholar and bishop of Caransebeș, Ioan Popazu. The family Popazu came from Vălenii de Munte. His father, Ioan Maiorescu, was the son of a Transylvanian peasant from Bucerdea Grânoasă and his name was actually Trifu, but he adopted the name Maiorescu in order to emphasize his kindship with Petru Maior. Being a theologian by trade (having studied in Blaj, Budapest, Vienna), Ioan Maiorescu proved to be a free thinker. He worked at a teacher in Cernăuți, Craiova, Iași, Bucharest and he remained a bright personality of that epoch of formation for the Romanian modern educational system. Ioan Maiorescu became an inspector for the schools of Oltenia, then he worked as a teacher at the Central School of Craiova. During the Revolution of 1848 he strengthened the link between the Walachian and Transylvanian revolutionaries and he activated as an agent of the Interim Govern, near the German Dieta from Frankfurt. Meanwhile, his family, consisting of his wife, Maria, born Popasu and his two children, Emilia and Titu, travelled to Bucharest, Brașov, Sibiu and Blaj, staying in Brașov for a long while and there, the future critic attended grade fifth at the Romanian gymnasium. Settling in Vienna, Ioan Maiorescu wrote articles in the Austrian newspapers concerning Romania and Romanians. Returning to Romania after the Union, he became president of the Obșteasca Epitropie (The Public Trusteeship), then he worked as director of the Central Commission of the United Principalities, then he worked as a teacher at the Saint Sava National College, as director of Public Instruction Eforie and then as a teacher at the Superior School of Letters in Bucharest.

Between 1846 and 1848 Titu Maiorescu attended the primary school in Craiova. During the days of the revolution, Ioan Maiorescu was sent on a mission to Frankfurt am Main, while Maria Maiorescu and their children travelled to Bucharest, Brașov and Sibiu. In December 1848, under the leadership of Avram Iancu, Ioan Maiorescu's family arrived in Blaj and then in Braşov. Titu Maiorescu continued primary school between 1848 and 1850 at Protodeacon Iosif Barac's School.

Between 1850 and 1851, after finishing primary school, Titu Maiorescu was enlisted at the Romanian Gymnasium from Schei-Braşov, a gymnasium founded in 1850 through his uncle Ioan Popazu's endeavour. He attended grade fifth at the Romanian gymnasium from Brașov and met Anton Pann, who left him an ineffaceable impression.

In September 1851 the Maiorescu family settled in Vienna, where his father was working within the Ministry of Justice. Later in October Titu Maiorescu attended the first grade at the Academic Gymnasium, which was an addendum of the Theresianum Academy for foreigners. A month later, they equated his results from the gymnasium from Brașov and he passed to the next grade.

While attending the academy in Vienna, Maiorescu began to write his Însemnărilor zilnice (Daily Journal) (which he kept until July 1917, in 42 notebooks that belong today to the fund of manuscripts from the Romanian Academy Library) and he continued to write his journal until the end of his life. His notes are a good source of knowing Maiorescu's personality. His success from 1858, when he graduated first in his class at the Theresianum Academy, was a guerdon of all his efforts and strong will.

He was very eager to obtain his university (after only one year of studies in Berlin he obtained his PhD at Giessen, magna cum laude, then after a year, he got his license at the Philology and Philosophy University of Sorbona and one year later, after he studied at the university of Paris, he took his license in law), but his eagerness did not affect his demureness in his studies; the foundations of Maiorescu's extremely solid culture were established during that period.