David Herbert Donald

Maybe I will write a memoir, perhaps I'll do some essays, or maybe I will write a mystery story.

— David Herbert Donald

In Lincoln's day a President's religion was a very private affair. There were no public prayer meetings, no attempts to woo the…

— David Herbert Donald

But I have tried to go over it very carefully, not merely what the evidence is, but with psychoanalysts and psychologists, and…

— David Herbert Donald

“Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was 272 words and he delivered it under three minutes. He labored on it for days. The "featured speaker,"…

— David Herbert Donald

And, finally, Lincoln was not a good impromptu speaker; he was at his best when he could read from a carefully prepared…

— David Herbert Donald

Well, it seems to me Lincoln, I suppose, is kind of a model of a particular sort of presidency, a presidency that…

— David Herbert Donald

“Sumner’s mind keeping the peace abroad was connected with freeing the slaves at home. Repeatedly he tried to convince Lincoln that by…

— David Herbert Donald

The more I have studied Lincoln, the more I have followed his thought processes, the more I am convinced that he understood…

— David Herbert Donald

At the beginning, Lincoln was so inexperienced he had reverence for military expertise, not realizing that there wasn't any military expertise, that…

— David Herbert Donald

I love mysteries, and I read them every night before I go to bed.

— David Herbert Donald

Lincoln was not a good impromptu speaker; he was at his best when he could read from a carefully prepared manuscript, though…

— David Herbert Donald

I think, with the gay liberation movement has had need for heroes and heroines, and it would be rather nice to have…

— David Herbert Donald

I was able to sit at Lincoln's side and see how he thought and how he acted, and how he felt about…

— David Herbert Donald

Lincoln had no such person that he could talk with. Often, as a result, he debated with himself, and he would draw…

— David Herbert Donald

If you think about it, the historian's task is like that of the detective.

— David Herbert Donald

The big biography of Lincoln necessarily had to do so much with his political career, his ambitions, his accomplishments in public, with…

— David Herbert Donald

But having said all of that, that still doesn't account for a lot of the increase in popularity which stems, I think,…

— David Herbert Donald

What I thought we ought to try to do in a book like this is to focus closely on Lincoln, himself, to…

— David Herbert Donald

Here is Theodore Roosevelt with all his faults and with all his strengths—the devoted family man, the passionate game hunter, the astute…

— David Herbert Donald

I'm not sure Lincoln would fare well if he were a presidential candidate today.

— David Herbert Donald