Books can change your life. Some of the most influential people in our lives are characters we meet in books. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“If I were giving a young man advice as to how he might succeed in life, I would say to him, pick… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“Integrity should be preserved in all events, as essential to his happiness, through every stage of his existence.” — David McCullough Copy Share Image
I'm very aware how many distractions the reader has in life today, how many good reasons there are to put the book… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
We must not think of learning as only what happens in schools. It is an extended part of life. The most readily… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
To go back and read Swift and Defoe and Samuel Johnson and Smollett and Pope - all those people we had to… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Real success is finding your life work in the work that you love. That's it. Don't worry about making a living, don't… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“On prend l’essence de la vie dans la ville.” “One captures the essence of life in the city,” the French said. To… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Read. Read every chance you get. Read to keep growing. Read history. Read poetry. Read for pure enjoyment. Read a book called… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“I believe there is no one principle which predominates in human nature so much in every stage of life, from the cradle… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“The world needs you. There is large work to be done, good work, and you can make a difference. Whatever your life… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“It might never have happened. That’s among the most important lessons of history . . . and of life. There is so much around us… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
History is about life. It's awful when the life is squeezed out of it and there's no flavor left, no uncertainties, no… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
History is not just about dates and quotations. And it's not just about politics, the military and social issues, though much of… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“Paris was a place where one wanted to walk, where to walk—flâner, as the French said—was practically a way of life. (“Ah!… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Once I discovered the endless fascination of doing the research and of doing the writing, I knew I had found what I… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
I don't pick my presidents because they were great presidents. I'm not much interested in ranking presidents and who is the best… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“When bad news is riding high and despair in fashion, when loud mouths and corruption seem to own center stage, when some… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“It has been the will of Heaven," the essay began, "that we should be thrown into existence at a period when the… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“One might also say that history is not about the past. If you think about it, no one ever lived in the… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Read somewhat in the English poets every day. You will find them elegant, entertaining and constructive companions through your whole life. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“In our foreign policy as in our own national life we need less fanfare, less stagecraft and circumventing. We need to talk… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“One learned to take time to savor life, much as one took time to savor a good meal or glass of wine.… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“This is the clearest, most powerful summons yet, TO ALL OF US, to restore the American story to its rightful, vital place… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
To shut yourself from history is to shut yourself off from say music or painting or the theatre, literature for the rest… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
When the founders wrote about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, they didn't mean longer vacations and more comfortable hammocks. They… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“One of the regrets of my life is that I did not study Latin. I'm absolutely convinced, the more I understand these… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
With the Truman book, I wrote the entire account of his experiences in World War I before going over to Europe to follow his… — David McCullough Copy Share
“Steamboats by this time were becoming a familiar presence on the rivers and coastal waters of America, but not until 1838 did steam-powered ships… — David McCullough Copy Share
I feel that history is in many ways the most important of all subjects because it is about everything and because it's about who… — David McCullough Copy Share
“Even mighty states and kingdoms are not exempted. If we look into history, we shall find some nations rising from contemptible beginnings and spreading… — David McCullough Copy Share
History isn't just what happened, but what happened to whom and why and what would have been different if the cast of characters had… — David McCullough Copy Share
“Only TR openly declared his love for the job. “Nobody ever enjoyed the presidency as I did,” he boasted, and by all evidence that… — David McCullough Copy Share
“s ships Phoenix and Rose, in the company of three tenders, cast off their moorings at Staten Island and started up the harbor under… — David McCullough Copy Share
“a people may let a King fall, yet still remain a people, but if a King let his people slip from him, he is… — David McCullough Copy Share
Why limit yourself to the experience of your own relatively brief time on earth, according to your biological clock, when the whole realm of… — David McCullough Copy Share
“He worked at a plain, tall desk at which he wrote standing up or perched on a high stool,” — David McCullough Copy Share
“Nothing happens in isolation. Everything that happens has consequences. We” — David McCullough Copy Share
America faces an enemy who believes in enforced ignorance. And all that we stand for is the open mind, the generous spirit, the ideal… — David McCullough Copy Share
My shorthand answer is that I try to write the kind of book that I would like to read. If I can make it… — David McCullough Copy Share
“Seen under the microscope, Stegomyia is a creature of striking beauty. Its general color is dark gray, but the thorax is marked with a… — David McCullough Copy Share
