Quotes by David McCullough

About David McCullough:

David Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The more Adams thought about the future of his country, the more convinced he became that it rested on education. Before any great things are accomplished, he wrote to a correspondent, a memorable change must be made in the system of education and kn...

David McCullough

The source of our suffering has been our timidity. We have been afraid to think....Let us dare to read, think, speak, write.

David McCullough

Government is nothing more than the combined force of society or the united power of the multitude for the peace, order, safety, good, and happiness of the people... There is no king or queen bee distinguished from all the others by size or figure or...

David McCullough

When a friend of Abigail and John Adams was killed at Bunker Hill, Abigail's response was to write a letter to her husband and include these words, "My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.

David McCullough

The author perceives nuances of Abigail Adams' character in the occasional errors she makes in readily quoting John Milton. Rather than giving the observer a reason to quibble, they are evidence that she had absorbed Milton's works enough to feel com...

David McCullough

Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives. - John Adams

David McCullough

Morality only is eternal. All the rest is balloon and bubble from the cradle to the grave.

David McCullough

A man who will steal for me will steal from me." Theodore Roosevelt, dismissing on the spot one of his best cowhands who was about to claim for his boss an unmarked animal.

David McCullough

Read. Read all the time. Read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life.” (Wellesly High School commencement speech, “You Are Not Special”, 6-12)

David McCullough

My shorthand answer is that I try to write the kind of book that I would like to read. If I can make it clear and interesting and compelling to me, then I hope maybe it will be for the reader.

David McCullough

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.

David McCullough

The pull, the attraction of history, is in our human nature. What makes us tick? Why do we do what we do? How much is luck the deciding factor?

David McCullough

I can fairly be called an amateur because I do what I do, in the original sense of the word - for love, because I love it. On the other hand, I think that those of us who make our living writing history can also be called true professionals.

David McCullough

No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read.

David McCullough

You can't be a full participant in our democracy if you don't know our history.

David McCullough

I just thank my father and mother, my lucky stars, that I had the advantage of an education in the humanities.

David McCullough

I'm very aware how many distractions the reader has in life today, how many good reasons there are to put the book down.

David McCullough

To go back and read Swift and Defoe and Samuel Johnson and Smollett and Pope - all those people we had to read in college English courses - to read them now is to have one of the infinite pleasures in life.

David McCullough

Real success is finding you lifework in the work that you love.

David McCullough

I love Dickens. I love the way he sets a scene.

David McCullough

I love all sides of the work but that doesn't mean it isn't hard.

David McCullough

Author Bio

  • NameDavid McCullough
  • DescriptionAmerican historian and author
  • BornJuly 7, 1933
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionAuthor; Historian; Biographer
  • WorksTruman; John Adams
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship; Pulitzer Prize For Biography Or Autobiography; National Book Award; Presidential Medal Of Freedom; National Humanities Medal