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David McCullough Biography

David McCullough

David Gaub McCullough (/məˈkʌlə/; born July 7, 1933) is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award.

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David McCullough Quotes

However little television you watch, watch less.

Littles, Television, Watch, Watches

Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.

Air, Climbing, Embrace, Inspirational, See

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

Done, History, Making, Want

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, Hope, Interesting, Like, Shorthand, Writing

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, Know, Like, Think, Thinking

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

Amnesia, Forget, History, Individual, Nation, Past

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.

Fascinating, May, Take, Teacher, Teachers, Thinking

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, Cut, School, Teaching, Thing, Way

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.

Chance, Flavor, Horsing, People, Tables

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

Dickens, Love, Scene, Way

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.

Friend, Grief, Heart, Husband, Response, Writing

To this noble end the delegates had pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

Delegates, Fortunes, Honor, Noble, Sacred

Morality only is eternal. All the rest is balloon and bubble from the cradle to the grave.

Balloon, Balloons, Cradle, Eternal, Morality

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.

Alive, Art, Music, Part, Responsibility

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.

Doors, Encouragement, Gave, Helped, Interests, Taken

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.

Facts, Knowledge, Miss, Missing, Reach

Never assume that people in positions of responsibility are behaving responsibly.

Assuming, People, Positions, Responsibility

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, History, Subjects

There are no people on earth in whom a spirit of enthusiastic zeal is so readily kindled, and burns so remarkably, as Americans

Earth, Kindled, People, Spirit

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, Believes, Enemy, Ignorance, Opportunity, Tolerance

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