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…

Quote by David C McCullough

Topics: Books Quotes

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

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

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and...

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and...

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

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

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and...

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and...

Reading history is good for all of us, he says, not surprisingly, perhaps, but his...

Reading history is good for all of us, he says, not surprisingly, perhaps, but his...

History is not the story of heroes entirely. It is often the story of cruelty...

History is not the story of heroes entirely. It is often the story of cruelty...

I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead.

I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead.

Boswell is the first of biographers

Boswell is the first of biographers

The biographer who writes the life of his subject's self-concept passes through a fade into...

The biographer who writes the life of his subject's self-concept passes through a fade into...

I suppose I'm proudest of my novels for what's imagined in them. I think the...

I suppose I'm proudest of my novels for what's imagined in them. I think the...

I can find my biography in every fable that I read

I can find my biography in every fable that I read

Biography is the only true history

Biography is the only true history

Biography is one of the new terrors of death.

Biography is one of the new terrors of death.

Biography should be written by an acute enemy.

Biography should be written by an acute enemy.

Once the implicit aim of biography was to uplift now it is to unveil.

Once the implicit aim of biography was to uplift now it is to unveil.

No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography...

No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography...

I'm not spitting in my own soup, I love having spent my life thinking about...

I'm not spitting in my own soup, I love having spent my life thinking about...

I just love biography, and I'm fascinated by people who have shifted our destinies or...

I just love biography, and I'm fascinated by people who have shifted our destinies or...

From the time I was 7 or 8 years old, we were the roughest knockabout...

From the time I was 7 or 8 years old, we were the roughest knockabout...

The art of biography is different from geography. Geography is about maps, but biography is...

The art of biography is different from geography. Geography is about maps, but biography is...

I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are...

I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are...

The past is never forgotten; it's never even past

The past is never forgotten; it's never even past

Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the...

Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the...

They say you can read faces. Well, if that is true, you can read the...

They say you can read faces. Well, if that is true, you can read the...