David McCullough quotes

David McCullough was an acclaimed American historian and author, celebrated for his engaging narrative style. His works, including biographies of presidents and major historical events, earned numerous prestigious awards such as the Pulitzer Prize. He helped make American history accessible and compelling for generations of readers. Here are 26 of his quotes:

A nation that forgets its past can function no better than an individual with amnesia. (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

To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is.

David McCullough

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

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

David McCullough

People are so helpful. People will stop what they're doing to show you something, to walk with you through a section of the town, or explain how a suspension bridge really works.

David McCullough

Every book is a new journey. I never felt I was an expert on a subject as I embarked on a project.

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

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

David McCullough

May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.

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)

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 would pay to do what I do if I had to.

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

The title always comes last. What I really work hard on is the beginning. Where do you begin? In what tone do you begin? I almost have to have a scene in my mind.

David McCullough

I had been writing for about twelve years. I knew pretty well how you could find things out, but I had never been trained in an academic way how to go about the research.

David McCullough

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

David McCullough

I work very hard on the writing, writing and rewriting and trying to weed out the lumber.

David McCullough

With the Truman book, I wrote the entire account of his experiences in World War I before going over to Europe to follow his tracks in the war. When I got there, there was a certain satisfaction in finding I had it right - it does look like that.

David McCullough

In time I began to understand that it's when you start writing that you really find out what you don't know and need to know.

David McCullough

First of all, you can make the argument that there's no such thing as the past. Nobody lived in the past. (David McCullough)

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

David McCullough

My next book is also set in the eighteenth century. It's about the Revolution, with the focus on the year 1776. It's about Washington and the army and the war. It's the nadir, the low point of the United States of America.

David McCullough

I'm drawn particularly to stories that evolve out of the character of the protagonist.

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

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David McCullough

David McCullough - Image

Photo: Nrbelex at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5

Occupation: American Historian
Born: July 7, 1933
Died: August 7, 2022
Quotes count: 26

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