First of all, you can make the argument that there's no such thing as the past. Nobody lived in the past. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Nothing ever invented provides such sustenance, such infinite reward for time spent, as a good book. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
A nation that forgets its past can function no better than an individual with amnesia. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
The past after all is only another name for someone else's present. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“A lie,” he was once heard to declare on the floor of the Senate, “is an abomination unto the Lord and an… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“The experience at Suez was little help. Probably they would have been better off in the long run had there been no… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
There is a human longing to go back to other times. We all know how when we were children we asked our… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
In time I began to understand that it's when you start writing that you really find out what you don't know and… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Each generation, we peel back biases that have blinded those before us. The more we know about the past enables us to… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“Steamboats by this time were becoming a familiar presence on the rivers and coastal waters of America, but not until 1838 did… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
To hold the reader's attention, you have to bring the person who's reading the book inside the experience of the time: What… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
I'm absolutely positive it's in our human nature to want to know about the past. The two most popular movies of all… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
Yes, this is a dangerous time. Yes, this is a time full of shadows and fear. But we have been through worse… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
We are all what we are, in large degree, because of others who have helped, coached, taught, counseled, who set a standard… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
I want people to see that all-important time in a different way-in the way it was. For of a number of reasons,… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
When you start to write, things begin to come into focus in a way they don't when you're not writing. It's a… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
You can make the argument that there's no such thing as the past. Nobody lived in the past. They lived in the… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“Once upon a time in the dead of winter in the Dakota Territory, Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat down… — 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
“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
“What was surprising--and would largely be forgotten as time went on--was how well Adams had done. Despite the malicious attacks on him,… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
The more Adams thought about the future of his country, the more convinced he became that it rested on education. Before any… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“Gerald Ford, one of the most admirable presidents of our time, once observed that if Lincoln were alive today, he’d be turning… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“Read. Read all the time. Read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“As time would prove, he had written one of the great, enduring documents of the American Revolution. The constitution of the Commonwealth… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“Well, all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get… — 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
Read. Read. Read. Read. Read great books. Read poetry, history, biography. Read the novels that have stood the test of time. And… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
You've got to marinate your head, in that time and culture. You've got to become them." (Speaking about researching, and reading, and… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“He loved politics in large part exactly because it meant time spent with men like Cactus Jack Garner(who would be remembered for… — 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
