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Books Can Change Your Life. Some Of The Most Influential People In Our Lives Are Characters We Meet In Books.
-David McCullough
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Books Can Change Your

David McCullough
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Books Can Change Your Life. Some Of The Most Influential People In Our Lives Are Characters We Meet In Books.

Understanding the Quote: "books can change your life. some of the most influential people in..."

This quote by David McCullough reflects deeply on the theme of book. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Book, Character, People, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how David McCullough interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About David McCullough

David McCullough is celebrated for insightful thoughts on book and character. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Book
Character
People
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I Would Pay To Do What I Do If I Had To.
Pay
Ifs
A Nation That Forgets Its Past Can Function No Better Than An Individual With Amnesia.
Past
History
Forget
Morality Only Is Eternal. All The Rest Is Balloon And Bubble From The Cradle To The Grave.
Balloons
Morality
Cradle
You Have To Have Wisdom And Knowledge As Well As Virtue To Preserve Your Rights And Liberties.
Rights
Liberty
Virtue
You Have Overburdened Your Argument With Ostentatious Erudition.
Argument
Abigail
Erudition
I Work Very Hard On The Writing, Writing And Rewriting And Trying To Weed Out The Lumber.
Weed
Writing
Marijuana
They Must Be Cool But Determined...he Threatened Instant Death To Any Man Who Showed Cowardice.
Death
Men
Determined
You Can't Learn To Play The Piano Without Playing The Piano, You Can't Learn To Write Without Writing, And, In Many Ways, You Can't Learn To Think Without Thinking. Writing Is Thinking. To Write Well Is To Think Clearly. That's Why It's So Hard.
Writing
Thinking
Play
The Great Thing About The Arts Is That You Can Only Learn To Do It By Doing It.
Art
Art Is
Great Things
Read. Read Every Chance You Get. Read To Keep Growing. Read History. Read Poetry. Read For Pure Enjoyment. Read A Book Called Life On A Little Known Planet. It's About Insects. It Will Make You Feel Better.
Reading
Book
Feel Better
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.
Writing
Years
Twelve
Real Success Is Finding Your Lifework In The Work That You Love.
Love
Motivational
Success
Why Limit Yourself To The Experience Of Your Own Relatively Brief Time On Earth, According To Your Biological Clock, When The Whole Realm Of The Human Experience Reaching Back Infinitely Far Is Available To You?
Time On Earth
Limits
Clock
If We Think Back Through Our Own Lives, The Subjects That You Liked Best In School Almost Certainly Were Taught By The Teachers You Liked Best. And The Teacher You Liked Best Was The Teacher Who Cared About The Subject She Taught.
Teacher
School
Thinking
Since September 11, It Seems To Me That Never In Our Lifetime, Except Possibly In The Early Stages Of World War Ii, Has It Been Clearer That We Have As A Source Of Strength, A Source Of Direction, A Source Of Inspiration - Our Story.
War
Inspiration
September 11
One Of The Things About The Arts That Is So Important Is That In The Arts You Discover The Only Way To Learn How To Do It Is By Doing It. You Can't Write By Reading A Book About It. The Only Way To Learn How To Write A Book Is To Sit Down And Try To Write A Book
Art
Book
Reading
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.
Writing
Needs
Knows
A Leader Must Look And Act The Part.
Leader
Looks
Take The Teacher Not The Course. Find Out Who The Great Professors Are - The Great Teachers - And Take Their Courses Because A Subject That You May Not Think You're Interested In May Turn Out To Be Infinitely Fascinating Because Of The Way It's Taught.
Teacher
Thinking
May
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.
Husband
Grief
Writing
You Can Make The Argument That There's No Such Thing As The Past. Nobody Lived In The Past. They Lived In The Present. It Is Their Present, Not Our Present, And They Don't Know How It's Going To Come Out. They Weren't Just Like We Are Because They Lived In That Very Different Time. You Can't Understand Them If You Don't Understand How They Perceived Reality.
Past
Reality
Different
And Read… Read All The Time… Read As A Matter Of Principle, As A Matter Of Self-respect. Read As A Nourishing Staple Of Life.
Self
Principles
Matter
I Think The Public Library System Is One Of The Most Amazing American Institutions. Free For Everybody. If You Ever Get The Blues About The Status Of American Culture There Are Still More Public Libraries Than There Are Mcdonald's. During The Worst Of The Depression Not One Public Library Closed Their Doors.
Thinking
Mcdonalds
Doors
Every Book Is A New Journey. I Never Felt I Was An Expert On A Subject As I Embarked On A Project.
Book
Journey
Experts
George P. A. Healy; "i Knew No One In France, I Was Utterly Ignorant Of The Language, I Did Not Know What I Should Do When Once There; But I Was Not Yet One-and-twenty, And I Had A Great Stock Of Courage, Of Inexperience—which Is Sometimes A Great Help—and A Strong Desire To Be My Very Best.
Strong
Ignorant
Desire
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.
Writing
Love Is
Thinking
If Everyone Is Special, Then No One Is. If Everyone Gets A Trophy, Trophies Become Meaningless.
Special
Trophies
Ifs
I Just Thank My Father And Mother, My Lucky Stars, That I Had The Advantage Of An Education In The Humanities.
Mother
Stars
Father
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.
War
Book
Europe
There Is A Human Longing To Go Back To Other Times. We All Know How When We Were Children We Asked Our Parents, "what Was It Like When You Were A Kid?" I Think It Probably Has Something To Do With Our Survival As A Species.
Children
Kids
Thinking
No Harm's Done To History By Making It Something Someone Would Want To Read.
History
Done
Want
My Strong Feeling Is That We Must Learn More About How We Learn. I'm Convinced That We Learn By Struggling To Find The Solution To A Problem On Our Own With Some Guidance, But Getting In And Getting Our Hands Dirty And Working It.
Strong
Dirty
Struggle
Napoleon Could Never Imagine That Some People Loved Their Country As Much As He Loved His Own.
Country
People
History
I've Always Been Dissatisfied, I Know That. But Lately I Find That I Reek Of Discontentment. It Fills My Throat, And It Floods My Brain. And Sometimes I Fear There Is No Longer A Dream, But Only The Discontentment.
Dream
Brain
Sometimes
We Must Not Think Of Learning As Only What Happens In Schools. It Is An Extended Part Of Life. The Most Readily Available Resource For All Of Life Is Our Public Library System.
School
Thinking
Library
Develop And Protect A Moral Sensibility And Demonstrate The Character To Apply It. Dream Big. Work Hard. Think For Yourself. Love Everything You Love, Everyone You Love, With All Your Might. And Do So, Please, With A Sense Of Urgency, For Every Tick Of The Clock Subtracts From Fewer And Fewer...
Dream
Hard Work
Character
There Are Innumerable Writing Problems In An Extended Work. One Book Took A Little More Than Six Years. You, The Writer, Change In Six Years. The Life Around You Changes. Your Family Changes. They Grow Up. They Move Away. The World Is Changing. You're Also Learning More About The Subject. By The Time You're Writing The Last Chapters Of The Book, You Know Much More Than You Did When You Started At The Beginning.
Growing Up
Moving
Book
I Want People To See That All-important Time In A Different Way-in The Way It Was. For Of A Number Of Reasons, Including The Absence Of Photographs, We Tend To See The Men And Women Of The Revolution As Not Quite Real. And We Have Far Too Little Sense Of What They Suffered.
Real
Men
Numbers
Nothing Ever Invented Provides Such Sustenance, Such Infinite Reward For Time Spent, As A Good Book.
Book
Rewards
Infinite
I'm Very Aware How Many Distractions The Reader Has In Life Today, How Many Good Reasons There Are To Put The Book Down.
Book
Today
Madness
To This Noble End The Delegates Had Pledged Their Lives, Their Fortunes, And Their Sacred Honor.
Honor
Noble
Sacred
You Can't Love What You Don't Know Much About. You Can't Convince, Stimulate, Hold The Attention, Teach, If You Don't Know What You're Talking About.
Knowledge
Talking
Attention
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.
Hard Work
Mind
Titles
We All Know The Old Expression, "i'll Work My Thoughts Out On Paper." There's Something About The Pen That Focuses The Brain In A Way That Nothing Else Does. That Is Why We Must Have More Writing In The Schools, More Writing In All Subjects, Not Just In English Classes.
Writing
School
Expression
It Was An Utterly Phenomenal Achievement.
Achievement
Phenomenal
The Talent, Including The Talent For History - And I Do Think There Are People Who Just Have A Talent For It, The Way You Have A Talent For Public Speaking Or Music Or Whatever - It Shouldn't Be Allowed To Lie Dormant. It Should Be Brought Alive.
Lying
Thinking
People
Nobody Ever Lived In The Past.
Past
The Evil Of Technology Was Not Technology Itself, Lindbergh Came To See After The War, Not In Airplanes Or The Myriad Contrivances Of Modern Technical Igenuity, But In The Extent To Which They Can Distance Us From Our Better Moral Nature, Or Sense Of Personal Accountability.
War
Distance
Airplane
Spotting Talent Is One Of The Essential Elements Of Great Leadership.
Inspirational
Motivational
Great Leadership
History Isn't Just What Happened, But What Happened To Whom And Why And What Would Have Been Different If The Cast Of Characters Had Been Different.
Character
Different
Casts
I Lament The Want Of A Liberal Education. I Feel The Mist Of Ignorance To Surround Me - Nathanael Greene
Ignorance
Want
Mist
Any Nation That Expects To Be Ignorant And Free," Jefferson Said, "expects What Never Was And Never Will Be." And If The Gap Between The Educated And The Uneducated In America Continues To Grow As It Is In Our Time, As Fast As Or Faster Than The Gap Between The Rich And The Poor, The Gap Between The Educated And The Uneducated Is Going To Be Of Greater Consequence And The More Serious Threat To Our Way Of Life. We Must Not, By Any Means, Misunderstand That.
Mean
America
Ignorant
I'm Absolutely Positive It's In Our Human Nature To Want To Know About The Past. The Two Most Popular Movies Of All Time, While Not Historically Accurate, Are About Core Historic Events: 'gone With The Wind' And 'titanic.'
Past
Wind
Two
Writing Is Thinking. To Write Well Is To Think Clearly. That's Why It's So Hard.
Writing
Thinking
Purpose
First Of All, You Can Make The Argument That There's No Such Thing As The Past. Nobody Lived In The Past.
Past
Firsts
Argument
There Are People Who Are Trying To Write History For The General Reader Who Can Be Quite Tedious. That Said, I Do Feel In My Heart Of Hearts That If History Isn't Well Written, It Isn't Going To Be Read, And If It Isn't Read It's Going To Die.
Writing
Heart
People
I Often Think Of That When I Hear People Say That They Haven't Time To Read.
Thinking
People
Havens
Home Is Really Where Education Does Begin.
Home
Doe
Books Can Change Your Life. Some Of The Most Influential People In Our Lives Are Characters We Meet In Books.
Book
Character
People
The Year 1776, Celebrated As The Birth Year Of The Nation And For The Signing Of The Declaration Of Independence, Was For Those Who Carried The Fight For Independence Forward A Year Of All-too-few Victories, Of Sustained Suffering, Disease, Hunger, Desertion, Cowardice, Disillusionment, Defeat, Terrible Discouragement, And Fear, As They Would Never Forget, But Also Of Phenomenal Courage And Bedrock Devotion To Country, And That, Too They Would Never Forget.
Country
Fighting
Years
History Is Not Just About Dates And Quotations. And It's Not Just About Politics, The Military And Social Issues, Though Much Of It Of Course Is About That. It's About Everything. It's About Life History. It's Human. And We Have To See It That Way. We Have To Teach It That Way. We Have To Read It That Way. It's About Art, Music, Literature, Money, Science, Love - The Human Experience.
Art
Military
Issues
There's No Such Thing As A Foreseeable Future.
It Was A Day And Age That Saw No Reason Why One Could Not Learn Whatever Was Required - Learn Vitally Anything - By The Close Study Of Books.
Book
Age
Saws
However Little Television You Watch, Watch Less.
Watches
Television
Littles
The Most Interesting People Are Never Perfect.
People
Perfect
Interesting
Your Education Never Stops And College Is Just The Beginning. You Come Out Of College With A Huge Advantage In That You've Ideally And More Times Than Not You've Come Out With A Love Of Learning And That's What Matters Above All.
College
What Matters
Advantage
You Can't Be A Full Participant In Our Democracy If You Don't Know Our History.
Democracy
Participants
Knows
Climb The Mountain So You Can See The World, Not So The World Can See You.
Wisdom
Famous Motivational
Mountain
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.
Book
Writing
Interesting
The First Of All Qualities Of A General Is Courage.
Courage
Quality
Firsts
May None But Honest And Wise Men Ever Rule Under This Roof.
Wise
Men
May
I Am Adamant That We Must Not Cut Back On Funding Of The Teaching Of The Arts In The Schools: Music, Painting, Theater, Dance, All Of It. The Great Thing About The Arts Is That The Only Way You Learn How To Do It Is By Doing It.
Art
Teaching
School
Our Obligations To Our Country Never Cease But With Our Lives. - John Adams
Country
Patriotic
Patriotism
Little Children Can Learn Anything, Just As They Can Learn A Foreign Language. The Mind Is So Absorbent Then. There Ought To Be A Real Program To Educate Teachers Who Want To Teach Grade School Children About History.
Teacher
Children
Real
I Think It's Important To Remember That These Men Are Not Perfect. If They Were Marble Gods, What They Did Wouldn't Be So Admirable. The More We See The Founders As Humans The More We Can Understand Them.
Thinking
Men
Perfect
The Past After All Is Only Another Name For Someone Else's Present.
Past
Names
People Often Ask Me If I'm Working On A Book. That's Not How I Feel. I Feel Like I Work In A Book. It's Like Putting Myself Under A Spell. And This Spell, If You Will, Is So Real To Me That If I Have To Leave My Work For A Few Days, I Have To Work Myself Back Into The Spell When I Come Back. It's Almost Like Hypnosis.
Real
Book
Hypnosis
Just Imagine If In His Inaugural Address John F. Kennedy Had Said, 'ask Not What Your Country Can, You Know, Do For You, But What You Can, Like, Do For Your Country Actually.
Country
Addresses
Imagine
Once I Discovered The Endless Fascination Of Doing The Research And Of Doing The Writing, I Knew I Had Found What I Wanted To Do In My Life. Every Book Is A New Journey. I Never Felt I Was An Expert On A Subject As I Embarked On A Project.
Book
Writing
Journey
I Feel That As Much As I Enjoy Loafing, There Is Something Higher For Which To Live.
Enjoy
Feels
Higher
The Fulfilling Life, The Distinctive Life, The Relevant Life, Is An Achievement... To Do Whatever You Do For No Reason Other Than You Love It And Believe In Its Importance.
Believe
Achievement
Life Is
We Are All What We Are, In Large Degree, Because Of Others Who Have Helped, Coached, Taught, Counseled, Who Set A Standard By Example, Who've Taken An Interest In Our Interests, Opened Doors, Opened Our Minds, Helped Us See, Who Gave Encouragement When We Needed It, Who Reprimanded Or Prodded When We Needed It, And At Critical Moments, Inspired.
Encouragement
Taken
Doors
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 Knowledge Must Become So General As To Raise The Lower Ranks Of Society Nearer To The Higher. The Education Of A Nation Instead Of Being Confined To A Few Schools And Universities For The Instruction Of The Few, Must Become The National Care And Expense For The Formation Of The Many.
Country
Memorable
School
Washington Was A Man Of Exceptional, Almost Excessive Self-command, Rarely Permitting Himself Any Show Of Discouragement Or Despair.
Courage
Men
Self
We Should Draw On Our Story, We Should Draw On Our History. If We Don't Know Who We Are, If We Don't Know How We Became What We Are, We're Going To Start Suffering From All The Obvious Detrimental Effects Of Amnesia.
Suffering
Stories
Who We Are
You've Got To Marinate Your Head, In That Time And Culture. You've Got To Become Them." (speaking About Researching, And Reading, And Immersing Yourself In History)
Reading
Culture
Immersing Yourself
Exercise Free Will And Creative, Independent Thought Not For The Satisfactions They Will Bring You, But For The Good They Will Do Others, The Rest Of The 6.8 Billion–and Those Who Will Follow Them. And Then You Too Will Discover The Great And Curious Truth Of The Human Experience Is That Selflessness Is The Best Thing You Can Do For Yourself. The Sweetest Joys Of Life, Then, Come Only With The Recognition That You’re Not Special. Because Everyone Is.
Independent
Exercise
Creative
The More We See The Founders As Humans The More We Can Understand Them.
Founders
Humans
History Is A Guide To Navigation In Perilous Times. History Is Who We Are And Why We Are The Way We Are.
History
Who We Are
Way
To Shut Yourself From History Is To Shut Yourself Off From Say Music Or Painting Or The Theatre, Literature For The Rest Of Your Life. It Would Be To Cheat Yourself Of The Pleasures Of Life.
Theatre
Would Be
Literature
Only Those Who [do] Nothing [make] No Mistakes.
Mistake
I Don't Pick My Presidents Because They Were Great Presidents. I'm Not Much Interested In Ranking Presidents And Who Is The Best And Who Is The Worst. I Am Much More Inclined To Be Interested In Them If They Had An Interesting Life And If They Were A Complete Person - And By That I Mean They Also Had Flaws And Failings.
Mean
Interesting
President
...had Proven Himself A Leader Of Remarkable Ability, A Man Not Only Of Enterprising Ideas, But With The Staying Power To Carry Them Out.
Men
Ideas
Leader
We Are Raising A Generation Of Young Americans Who Are, To A Very Large Degree, Historically Illiterate. It's Not Their Faults. There's No Problem About Enlisting Their Interest In History. None. The Problem Is The Teachers So Often Have No History In Their Background.
Teacher
Degrees
Generations
Find Something To Do That You Love Because Then The Work Itself Is Always The Reward Not The Recompense. And If You Love What You're Doing You Probably Do Better At It Than Doing Something You Don't Love And Therefore You'll Be Compensated Appropriately.
Love Is
Doing You
Rewards
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.
War
Book
Army
On Christmas Morning When I Was A Child, My Mother Would Leave A Book Wrapped At The Foot Of The Bed, Which Was A Hint That Santa Had Come. It Was Also Her Way Of Keeping Us In Bed A Little Longer Before We Went Downstairs. So I've Always Associated Books With Happiness And Gifts. And They Are. I Can't Get Enough Of Them.
Mother
Morning
Children
I Think It Is One Of The Most Extraordinary Elections, A Turning Point For Our Country And For The World. That Remarkable Young Man [barack Obama] Has Kept His Demeanor, Kept His Temperament And Has Shown A Power To Inspire. I See What Energy That He Has Inspired Among The Young. Well, It Inspires Us Old Goats Too.
Country
Men
Thinking
I Think It's Best To Pick A Biographical Subject Who Lives To A Ripe Old Age. Older People Tend To Relax And Speak Their Minds. They're Dropping Some Of The Masks That They've Been Wearing. There's A Candor.
Thinking
People
Mind
When The Founders Wrote About Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness, They Didn't Mean Longer Vacations And More Comfortable Hammocks. They Meant The Pursuit Of Learning. The Pursuit Of Improvement And Excellence. In Hard Work Is Happiness.
Hard Work
Mean
Pursuit Of Happiness
I Feel That History Is In Many Ways The Most Important Of All Subjects Because It Is About Everything And Because It's About Who We Are And How We Came To Be The Way We Are.
Important
Who We Are
Way
In Fact, It Was The Largest Expeditionary Force Of The 18th Century. The Largest, Most Powerful Force Ever Set Forth From Britain Or Any Nation.
Powerful
Facts
Century
I Love To Go To The Places Where Things Happen. I Like To Walk The Walk And See How The Light Falls And What Winter Feels Like.
Fall
Winter
Light
Freedom Is Found Through The Portals Of Our Nation's Libraries.
Democracy
Library
Portal
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.
Bridges
People
Towns
History Is About Life. It's Awful When The Life Is Squeezed Out Of It And There's No Flavor Left, No Uncertainties, No Horsing Around. It Always Disturbed Me How Many Biographers Never Gave Their Subjects A Chance To Eat. You Can Tell A Lot About People By How They Eat, What They Eat, And What Kind Of Table Manners They Have.
People
Flavor
Tables
With The Situation As Gray As It Could Be, No One Was More Conspicuous In His Calm Presence Of Mind Than Washington. They Must Be "cool But Determined" He Had Told The Men Before The Battle, When Spirits Were High. Now, In The Face Of Catastrophe, He Was Demonstrating What He Meant By His Own Example. Whatever Anger Or Torment Or Despair He Felt, He Kept To Himself.
Men
Presence Of Mind
Despair
I Think That We Need History As Much As We Need Bread Or Water Or Love.
Thinking
Water
Needs
There's An Awful Temptation To Just Keep On Researching. There Comes A Point Where You Just Have To Stop, And Start Writing.
Writing
Temptation
Awful
Unlike The People You See In Mathew Brady's Photographs From The Civil War, The Men And Women Of The Revolution Seem More Like Characters In A Costume Pageant. And It's A Pageant In Which The Performers Are All Handsome As Stage Actors, With Uniforms And Dress That Are Always Costume Perfect.
War
Character
Men
I Could Not Do What I Do Without The Kindness, Consideration, Resourcefulness And Work Of Librarians, Particularly In Public Libraries... What Started Me Writing History Happened Because Of Some Curiosity That I Had About Some Photographs I'd Seen In The Library Of Congress.
Kindness
Writing
Curiosity
I Love Dickens. I Love The Way He Sets A Scene.
Way
Scene
Dickens
How Can We Know Who We Are And Where We Are Going If We Don't Know Anything About Where We Have Come From And What We Have Been Through, The Courage Shown, The Costs Paid, To Be Where We Are?
Cost
Who We Are
Knows
I Feel That What I Do Is A Calling. I Would Pay To Do What I Do If I Had To. I Will Never Live Long Enough To Do The Work I Want To Do: The Books I Would Like To Write, The Ideas I Would Like To Explore.
Book
Writing
Ideas
To Write Is To Think, And To Write Well Is To Think Well.
Writing
Thinking
Wells
One Of The Regrets Of My Life Is That I Did Not Study Latin. I'm Absolutely Convinced, The More I Understand These Eighteenth-century People, That It Was That Grounding In Greek And Latin That Gave Them Their Sense Of The Classic Virtues: The Classic Ideals Of Honor, Virtue, The Good Society, And Their Historic Examples Of What They Could Try To Live Up To.
Regret
Latin
People
When You Start To Write, Things Begin To Come Into Focus In A Way They Don't When You're Not Writing. It's A Very Good Way To Find Out How Much You Don't Know Because You Learn Specifically What You Need To Know That You Don't Know At The Moment By Writing.
Writing
Focus
Needs
It Would Be The Most Crucial Day Of The Entire War.
War
History
Would Be
There Are No People On Earth In Whom A Spirit Of Enthusiastic Zeal Is So Readily Kindled, And Burns So Remarkably, As Americans
People
Earth
Spirit
Curiosity Is What Separates Us From The Cabbages. It's Accelerative. The More We Know, The More We Want To Know.
Curiosity
Want
Cabbage
He Had Kept His Head, Kept His Health And His Strength, Bearing Up Under A Weight Of Work And Worry That Only A Few Could Have Carried.
Worry
Weight
Read Somewhat In The English Poets Every Day. You Will Find Them Elegant, Entertaining And Constructive Companions Through Your Whole Life.
Poet
Companion
Whole Life
My Wife, The Star I Steer By.
Marriage
Stars
Wife
I Love All Sides Of The Work But That Doesn't Mean It Isn't Hard.
Mean
Two Sides
Sides
According To Adams, Jefferson Proposed That He, Adams, Do The Writing [pf The Declaration Of Independence], But That He Declined, Telling Jefferson He Must Do It. Why?" Jefferson Asked, As Adams Would Recount. Reasons Enough," Adams Said. What Can Be Your Reasons?" Reason First: You Are A Virginian And A Virginian Ought To Appear At The Head Of This Business. Reason Second: I Am Obnoxious, Suspected And Unpopular. You Are Very Much Otherwise. Reason Third: You Can Write Ten Times Better Than I Can.
Writing
Independence
Firsts
Never Assume That People In Positions Of Responsibility Are Behaving Responsibly.
Responsibility
People
Assuming
Yes, This Is A Dangerous Time. Yes, This Is A Time Full Of Shadows And Fear. But We Have Been Through Worse Before And We Have Faced More Difficult Days Before. We Have Shown Courage And Determination, And Skillful And Inventive And Courageous And Committed Responses To Crisis Before.
Determination
Shadow
Courageous
We Still Dislike Hypocrites. It's A Very American Characteristic. We Still Like People Who Have Ideas And Who Are Willing To Stand Up For What They Believe In. We're Very Forgiving Of Failures And Very Willing To Give People A Second And Third Chance If They Mean To Do Better And Are Sorry For What They've Done.
Sorry
Believe
Hypocrite
If The Attitude Of The Teacher Toward The Material Is Positive, Enthusiastic, Committed And Excited, The Students Get That. If The Teacher Is Bored, Students Get That And They Get Bored, Quickly, Instinctively.
Teacher
Attitude
Bored
If You Get Down About The State Of American Culture, Just Remember There Are Still More Public Libraries In This Country Than There Are Mcdonalds.
Country
Mcdonalds
Library
Courage Is Contagious. If A Leader Shows Courage, Others Get The Idea.
Ideas
Leader
Contagious
Each Generation, We Peel Back Biases That Have Blinded Those Before Us. The More We Know About The Past Enables Us To Ask Richer And More Provocative Questions About Who We Are Today.
Past
Generations
Who We Are
Love Of Learning Will Never Let You Down. You Can Have A Quest For Money, You Can Have A Quest For Power, You Can Have A Quest For Fame And They Are Sometimes Gratifying And Sometimes Self-destructive. The Love Of Learning Is Always Gratifying And Never Self-destructive. The More Educated, The More Cultivated A Society Becomes, Better Off Is Everybody.
Self
Quests
Sometimes
When I'm Reading For My Own Pleasure, I Read Things Other Than History Or Archival Material. I Read A Lot Of Fiction. I'm Very Fond Of Mysteries.
Reading
Fiction
Mystery
America Faces An Enemy Who Believes In Enforced Ignorance. And All That We Stand For Is The Open Mind, The Generous Spirit, The Ideal Of Tolerance, Freedom, Education, Opportunity.
Believe
Ignorance
Opportunity
I Write On The Typewriter. I Like It Because I Like The Feeling Of Making Something With My Hands. I Like Pressing The Key And A Letter Comes Up And Is Printed On A Piece Of Paper. I Can Understand That.
Writing
Keys
Typewriters
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?
Luck
Human Nature
Tick
My Love Is To Tell A Story But I Like Stories That Evolve From Character, From The Nature Of The Individuals Involved.
Character
Love Is
Stories
I Feel Very Strongly That History Is About Everything. It Isn't Just About Politics Or The Military Or Social Issues. If Art, Music, Engineering, Science, Medicine, Finance, The World Of Architecture And Technology - If Those Are Left Out, Then You're Not Getting A Full Sense Of The Human Condition. History Is Human And We Human Beings Are Involved In All Kinds Of Things And That's Part Of Our Humanity.
Art
Military
Technology
The Preparations Were Elaborate And Mammoth In Scale, And Washington Threw Himself Into The Effort, Demanding That Not An Hour Be Lost.
Effort
Preparation
Hours
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.
Art
Responsibility
Alive
Let The Children Have Their Night Of Fun And Laughter. Let The Gifts Of Father Christmas Delight Their Play. Let Us Grown-ups Share To The Full In Their Unstinted Pleasures Before We Turn Again To The Stern Task And The Formidable Years That Lie Before Us, Resolved That, By Our Sacrifice And Daring, These Same Children Shall Not Be Robbed Of Their Inheritance Or Denied Their Right To Live In A Free And Decent World." Winston Churchill Christmas Eve Message, 1941 As Printed In "in The Dark Streets Shineth.
Christmas
Laughter
Children
History Is Not The Story Of Heroes Entirely. It Is Often The Story Of Cruelty And Injustice And Shortsightedness. There Are Monsters, There Is Evil, There Is Betrayal. That's Why People Should Read Shakespeare And Dickens As Well As History ~~ They Will Find The Best, The Worst, The Height Of Noble Attainment And The Depths Of Depravity.
Betrayal
Book
Reading
There Is Only One Person Who Can Measure Your Success. That Person Is You.
Inspirational
Congratulations
Persons
To Hold The Reader's Attention, You Have To Bring The Person Who's Reading The Book Inside The Experience Of The Time: What Was It Like To Have Been Alive Then? What Were These People Like As Human Beings?
Book
Reading
People
The Truth Isn't Just The Facts. You Can Have All The Facts Imaginable And Miss The Truth, Just As You Can Have Facts Missing Or Some Wrong, And Reach The Larger Truth.
Knowledge
Missing
Facts
Housetops Were Covered With 'gazers'; All Wharves That Offered A View Were Jammed With People ... As British Officers Happily Reminded One Another, It Was The Largest Fleet Ever Seen In American Waters. In Fact It Was The Largest Expeditionary Force Of The 18th Century, The Largest, Most Powerful Force Ever Sent Forth By Britain Or Any Other Nation.
Powerful
Views
People
Read. Read. Read. Read. Read Great Books. Read Poetry, History, Biography. Read The Novels That Have Stood The Test Of Time. And Read Closely.
Book
Biographies
Tests
Real Success Is Finding Your Life Work In The Work That You Love. That's It. Don't Worry About Making A Living, Don't Worry About Popularity Or Fame. Make What You Do ... Count More Than What You Own.
Real
Worry
Popularity
Washington Had Performed His Role To Perfection. It Was No Enough That A Leader Look The Part; By Washington's Rules, He Must Know How To Act It With Self-command And Precision.
Self
Perfect
Leader
The Source Of Our Suffering Has Been Our Timidity. We Have Been Afraid To Think....let Us Dare To Read, Think, Speak, Write.
Writing
Thinking
Suffering
I'm Drawn Particularly To Stories That Evolve Out Of The Character Of The Protagonist.
Character
Stories
Evolve
You Have To Get Inside The People You Are Writing About. You Have To Go Below The Surface. And That's To A Very Large Degree What All Writers Are Doing - They're Trying To Get Below The Surface. Whether It's In Fiction Or Poetry Or Writing History And Biography. Some People Make That Possible Because They Write Wonderful Letters And Diaries. And You Have To Sort Of Go Where The Material Is.
Writing
People
Trying
I Think That A Good Education Ought To Be In Part The Idea That Ease And Joy Are Not Synonymous. Some Of The Most Fulfilling Pleasures Of Life Are To Be Found In Work - Found In Work You Love To Do, Work You Want To Do, Work That Makes You Want To Get Out Of Bed In The Morning.
Morning
Thinking
Work You Love
Nothing Ever Invented Can You A Bigger Life Than A Book.
Book
Bigger
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