Quotes by Stephen E. Ambrose

About Stephen E. Ambrose:

Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a longtime professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many best selling volumes of American popular history.
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

No matter how bad things got, no matter how anxious the staff became, the commander had to “preserve optimism in himself and in his command. Without confidence, enthusiasm and optimism in the command, victory is scarcely obtainable.” Eisenhower r...

Stephen E. Ambrose

We can't make you do anything, but we can make you wish you had. - Army saying

Stephen E. Ambrose

Within Easy Company they had made the best friends they had ever had, or would ever have. They were prepared to die for each other; more important, they were prepared to kill for each other.

Stephen E. Ambrose

In one of his last newsletters, Mike Ranney wrote: "In thinking back on the days of Easy Company, I'm treasuring my remark to a grandson who asked, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' No,'" I answered, 'but I served in a company of heroes.

Stephen E. Ambrose

We know how to win wars. We must learn now to win peace...

Stephen E. Ambrose

Lieutenant Welsh remembered walking around among the sleeping men, and thinking to himself that 'they had looked at and smelled death all around them all day but never even dreamed of applying the term to themselves. They hadn't come here to fear. Th...

Stephen E. Ambrose

At dusk, Wakefield “had my most important thought that day.” Wading into chest-deep water at first light that morning, “I found that my legs would hardly hold me up. I thought I was a coward.” Then he had discovered that his sea bags with the...

Stephen E. Ambrose

By this time, around 0745, unknown others were doing the same, whether NCOs or junior officers or, in some cases, privates. Staying on the beach meant certain death; retreat was not possible; someone had to lead; men took the burden on themselves and...

Stephen E. Ambrose

I read about a number of generals and colonels who are said to have wandered about exhorting the troops to advance. That must have been very inspirational! I suspect, however, that the men were more interested and more impressed by junior officers an...

Stephen E. Ambrose

When Hitler declared war on the United States, he was betting that German soldiers, raised up in the Hitler Youth, would always out fight American soldiers, brought up in the Boy Scouts. He lost that bet. The Boy Scouts had been taught how to figure ...

Stephen E. Ambrose

There are many rules of good writing, but the best way to find them is to be a good reader.

Stephen E. Ambrose

Author Bio

  • NameStephen E. Ambrose
  • DescriptionAmerican historian
  • AliasesStephen E. Ambrose
  • BornJanuary 10, 1936
  • DiedOctober 13, 2002
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionHistorian; Writer
  • AwardsNational Humanities Medal