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.

-David McCullough

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Yes, This Is A

David McCullough

Topic

Determination

Shadow

Courageous

More From 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.

Husband

Grief

Writing

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

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

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'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

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

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

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

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

Curiosity Is What Separates Us From The Cabbages. It's Accelerative. The More We Know, The More We Want To Know.

Curiosity

Want

Cabbage

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

Nobody Ever Lived In The Past.

Past

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Washington Was A Man Of Exceptional, Almost Excessive Self-command, Rarely Permitting Himself Any Show Of Discouragement Or Despair.

Courage

Men

Self

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

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

Spotting Talent Is One Of The Essential Elements Of Great Leadership.

Inspirational

Motivational

Great Leadership

Nothing Ever Invented Provides Such Sustenance, Such Infinite Reward For Time Spent, As A Good Book.

Book

Rewards

Infinite

Climb The Mountain So You Can See The World, Not So The World Can See You.

Wisdom

Famous Motivational

Mountain

...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

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

I Work Very Hard On The Writing, Writing And Rewriting And Trying To Weed Out The Lumber.

Weed

Writing

Marijuana

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

I Lament The Want Of A Liberal Education. I Feel The Mist Of Ignorance To Surround Me - Nathanael Greene

Ignorance

Want

Mist

Our Obligations To Our Country Never Cease But With Our Lives. - John Adams

Country

Patriotic

Patriotism

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

Nothing Ever Invented Can You A Bigger Life Than A Book.

Book

Bigger

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

The First Of All Qualities Of A General Is Courage.

Courage

Quality

Firsts

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

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

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

You Can't Be A Full Participant In Our Democracy If You Don't Know Our History.

Democracy

Participants

Knows

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

Home Is Really Where Education Does Begin.

Home

Doe

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

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

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

If Everyone Is Special, Then No One Is. If Everyone Gets A Trophy, Trophies Become Meaningless.

Special

Trophies

Ifs

May None But Honest And Wise Men Ever Rule Under This Roof.

Wise

Men

May

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

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 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

It Would Be The Most Crucial Day Of The Entire War.

War

History

Would Be

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'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

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

No Harm's Done To History By Making It Something Someone Would Want To Read.

History

Done

Want

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

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

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

I Just Thank My Father And Mother, My Lucky Stars, That I Had The Advantage Of An Education In The Humanities.

Mother

Stars

Father

A Nation That Forgets Its Past Can Function No Better Than An Individual With Amnesia.

Past

History

Forget

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

Book

Character

People

I Feel That As Much As I Enjoy Loafing, There Is Something Higher For Which To Live.

Enjoy

Feels

Higher

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

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

Never Assume That People In Positions Of Responsibility Are Behaving Responsibly.

Responsibility

People

Assuming

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

Writing Is Thinking. To Write Well Is To Think Clearly. That's Why It's So Hard.

Writing

Thinking

Purpose

However Little Television You Watch, Watch Less.

Watches

Television

Littles

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

There's No Such Thing As A Foreseeable Future.

Real Success Is Finding Your Lifework In The Work That You Love.

Love

Motivational

Success

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

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.

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

The Most Interesting People Are Never Perfect.

People

Perfect

Interesting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Would Pay To Do What I Do If I Had To.

Pay

Ifs

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

Only Those Who [do] Nothing [make] No Mistakes.

Mistake

A Leader Must Look And Act The Part.

Leader

Looks

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

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

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

I'm Drawn Particularly To Stories That Evolve Out Of The Character Of The Protagonist.

Character

Stories

Evolve

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

I Love Dickens. I Love The Way He Sets A Scene.

Way

Scene

Dickens

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

It Was An Utterly Phenomenal Achievement.

Achievement

Phenomenal

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

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

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

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

To This Noble End The Delegates Had Pledged Their Lives, Their Fortunes, And Their Sacred Honor.

Honor

Noble

Sacred

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

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

You Have To Have Wisdom And Knowledge As Well As Virtue To Preserve Your Rights And Liberties.

Rights

Liberty

Virtue

Freedom Is Found Through The Portals Of Our Nation's Libraries.

Democracy

Library

Portal

Courage Is Contagious. If A Leader Shows Courage, Others Get The Idea.

Ideas

Leader

Contagious

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.

I Love All Sides Of The Work But That Doesn't Mean It Isn't Hard.

Mean

Two Sides

Sides

To Write Is To Think, And To Write Well Is To Think Well.

Writing

Thinking

Wells

I Often Think Of That When I Hear People Say That They Haven't Time To Read.

Thinking

People

Havens

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

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

They Must Be Cool But Determined...he Threatened Instant Death To Any Man Who Showed Cowardice.

Death

Men

Determined

Napoleon Could Never Imagine That Some People Loved Their Country As Much As He Loved His Own.

Country

People

History

I Think That We Need History As Much As We Need Bread Or Water Or Love.

Thinking

Water

Needs

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

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

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

You Have Overburdened Your Argument With Ostentatious Erudition.

Argument

Abigail

Erudition

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

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

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

There Is Only One Person Who Can Measure Your Success. That Person Is You.

Inspirational

Congratulations

Persons

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

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 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

The Past After All Is Only Another Name For Someone Else's Present.

Past

Names

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

Morality Only Is Eternal. All The Rest Is Balloon And Bubble From The Cradle To The Grave.

Balloons

Morality

Cradle

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

The More We See The Founders As Humans The More We Can Understand Them.

Founders

Humans

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

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

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

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

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

The Great Thing About The Arts Is That You Can Only Learn To Do It By Doing It.

Art

Art Is

Great Things

My Wife, The Star I Steer By.

Marriage

Stars

Wife

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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