16 Quotes by David H. Donald

Maybe I will write a memoir, perhaps I'll do some essays, or maybe I will write a mystery story.

But having said all of that, that still doesn't account for a lot of the increase in popularity which stems, I think, from Lincoln's personal characteristics.

Well, it seems to me Lincoln, I suppose, is kind of a model of a particular sort of presidency, a presidency that first of all is elected by a minority of the votes.

When I made the decision to go ahead with the project, I said I was going to try and write as if no other biography of Lincoln had yet been written.

But added to those accomplishments, of course, there is the assassination, and Americans have a fascination with assassinations and their legacy.

But I do agree that one of Lincoln's faults was his excessive loyalty to his subordinates - whether in the military or in the civil service.

The truth is that I already had written a good deal about Lincoln in a peripheral fashion, but I had always stayed away from the main subject.