Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
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
I had been writing for about twelve years. I knew pretty well how you could find things out, but I had never… — 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
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
Every book is a new journey. I never felt I was an expert on a subject as I embarked on a project. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard." (Interview with NEH chairman Bruce Cole, Humanities… — 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
There's an awful temptation to just keep on researching. There comes a point where you just have to stop, and start writing. — David McCullough Copy Share Image
You can't learn to play the piano without playing the piano, you can't learn to write without writing, and, in many ways,… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
I think the public library system is one of the most amazing American institutions. Free for everybody. If you ever get the… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
People often ask me if I'm working on a book. That's not how I feel. I feel like I work in a… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
My shorthand answer is that I try to write the kind of book that I would like to read. If I can… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
We all know the old expression, "I'll work my thoughts out on paper." There's something about the pen that focuses the brain… — 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
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
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
“He acquired more and more books, books being an acknowledged extravagance he could seldom curb. (With one London bookseller he had placed… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
“The only way to compose myself and collect my thoughts," he wrote in his diary,"is to set down at my table, place… — 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
If you get down about the state of American culture, just remember there are still more public libraries in this country than… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
It was a day and age that saw no reason why one could not learn whatever was required - learn vitally anything… — 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
I could not do what I do without the kindness, consideration, resourcefulness and work of librarians, particularly in public libraries... What started… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
I write on the typewriter. I like it because I like the feeling of making something with my hands. I like pressing… — David McCullough Copy Share Image
People ask me when I start one of these projects, what is your theme? I havent the faintest idea. Thats why youre… — 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
