274 Quotes by David McCullough

There was no opiate like a French pillow.

Take an interest in people. Get to know people. Get to know what they've been through before you pass judgment. That's essential.

Beware the purists, the doctrinaires. It has been by the empirical method largely, by way of trial and error, that we have come so far. America itself is an experiment and we must bear that always in mind.

America has been a joint effort all down the years and we must continue in that spirit.

So here we are in the Capitol of the United States of America on Capitol Hill, the acropolis of our nation. It is a building like no other in the land, wherein the highest aspirations of a free and open society have been written into law, generation after generation, where, time and again, brave and eloquent words have changed history, and where the best and some of the worst of human motivations have been plainly on display.

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

You can't be a full participant in our democracy if you don't know our history.

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)

The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people.