Stephen Ambrose quotes - page 3

Custer had dead heroes. Crazy Horse had only live ones. (Stephen Ambrose)
At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn't want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed. So they fought, and won, and we all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
There are many rules of good writing, but the best way to find them is to be a good reader. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
Nothing is inevitable in life. People make choices, and those choices have results, and we all live with the results. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
Friendships are different from all other relationships. Unlike acquaintanceship, friendship is based on love. Unlike lovers and married couples, it is free of jealousy. Unlike children and parents, it knows neither criticism nor resentment. Friendship has no status in law. Business partnerships are based on a contract. So is marriage. Parents are bound by law. But friendships are freely entered into, freely given, and freely exercised. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
Friends never cheat on each other, or take advantage, or lie. Friends do not spy on one another, yet they have no secrets. Friends glory in each other's successes and are downcast by the failures. Friends minister to each other, nurse each other. Friends give to each other, worry about each other, stand always ready to help. Perfect friendship is rarely achieved, but at its height it is an ecstasy. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
In the 19th century, we devoted our best minds to exploring nature. In the 20th century, we devoted ourselves to controlling and harnessing it. In the 21st century, we must devote ourselves to restoring it. View quote
Stephen 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 their way out of their own problems. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
It is through history that we learn who we are and how we got that way, why and how we changed, why the good sometimes prevailed and sometimes did not. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
We know how to win wars. We must learn now to win peace. View quote
Stephen 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 Ambrose)
I think it's just that the private lives of our public leaders are so much more exposed today that if you're sensitive to protecting your family, it's much harder to not get defensive when somebody asks you those really rude questions about what your wife and your children are thinking and feeling at that exact moment. View quote
Stephen 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. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
Neighbors are far better acoustic analyzers for determining the quality of their life versus any acoustic instrument left unattended by an expert. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries you have these great nation states hurling their young men at one another. The victory was really going to rest on who could do the best job of bringing up their kids to become efficient and effective soldiers. That's pretty grandiose, I guess, but I do think that, and thank God it's been the armies of democracy that have emerged from this as the triumphant armies. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
Oftentimes the fascinating thing is that people who are seen as commanding figures at the moment that they were considered for President and did not run turned out to be treated by history as much more minor figures politically. View quote
Stephen Ambrose
I think that the opportunity to improve race relations in the United States has been put off temporarily. View quote
Stephen Ambrose