1896 quotes by historians for you to enjoy

I would pay to do what I do if I had to. David McCullough

Pay Would Had

To go back and read Swift and Defoe and Samuel Johnson and Smollett and Pope - all those people we had to read in college English courses - to read them now is to have one of the infinite pleasures in life. David McCullough

Life People College Back Pleasures Those Johnson Had Read Courses Go Infinite Samuel Them Pope English Swift Now

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. David McCullough

Hope Me Book Try Will Kind Would Write Clear Like Make Read Reader Answer Maybe Interesting Shorthand Then Compelling

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

Love Sets Way Scene He Dickens

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. David McCullough

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. David McCullough

Every book is a new journey. I never felt I was an expert on a subject as I embarked on a project. David McCullough

Journey Book Every Project Embarked Never New Felt Subject Expert

So much of the bitterness that the term 'McCarthyism' evokes refers to the probe begun in New Jersey in the summer of 1953 - both in the laboratories of Fort Monmouth and in the surrounding communities of Red Bank and Belmar, where some of the best scientists and engineers in America worked. David Oshinsky

Best Bitterness Summer Some Both Red Term New New Jersey Scientists Surrounding Begun America Bank Probe Where McCarthyism Fort Worked Much Communities Engineers Jersey

Coming of age in the 1960s, I heard the word 'fascist' all the time. College presidents were fascists; Vietnam War supporters were fascists. Policemen who tangled with protesters were fascists - on and on. David Oshinsky

War Time Age Word College Presidents Supporters Policemen Tangled Coming Coming Of Age Were Heard Vietnam Vietnam War Who Fascist Fascists

The March of Dimes turned a disease not nearly as prevalent as childhood cancer into a national crusade. Polio was not that widespread. David Oshinsky

Cancer National Crusade Polio Disease Childhood Turned March Nearly Widespread

When FDR died in 1945, he was still paralyzed from the waist down. After he died, his portrait was put on the dime. Through his illness, he went out of his way to minimize his difficulties. Of the thousands of pictures taken of him, only two show him in a leg brace or a wheelchair. David Oshinsky

Down Difficulties Way Dime Minimize Out Thousands Paralyzed Only Through He Taken Put Pictures Him Still Waist His His Way Leg Died Wheelchair After Show Illness Portrait Two

History had its own way of explaining things. The way historians explain things is by telling a story. Donald Kagan

History Own Way Telling Had Historians Story Explain Explaining Things

Throughout the human experience people have read history because they felt that it was a pleasure and that it was in some way instructive. The profession of professor of history has taken it in a very different direction. Donald Kagan

History Experience People Way Pleasure Some Direction Throughout Taken Read Because Felt Very Human Different Human Experience Profession Professor

I can see that you are a true historian because you really always ought to ask that question about anybody at a different place or a different time: What's the same and what's different? Donald Kagan

Time You Ought See About True Because Always Question Historian Same Anybody Different Place Ask Really Different Place

Without history we are the prisoners of the accident of where and when we were born. Donald Kagan

History Accident Born Without Prisoners Were Where

You have to liberate yourself first from the prejudices of the world in which you live. Donald Kagan

You Yourself World Liberate First Live Which Prejudices

All comparisons between America's current place in the world and anything legitimately called an empire in the past reveal ignorance and confusion about any reasonable meaning of the concept empire, especially the comparison with the Roman Empire. Donald Kagan

Ignorance World Confusion Past Roman Empire About Between Empire Concept Reveal America Current Any Roman Anything In The Past Place Meaning Meaning Of Reasonable Comparison Comparisons

As a historian, what I trust is my ability to take a mass of information and tell a story shaped around it. Doris Kearns Goodwin

Trust Tell Ability Take Shaped Mass Around Historian Information Story

A lot of times when people are on campaigns, it can be like a movie set. Doris Kearns Goodwin

People Like Lot Campaigns Times Movie Movie Set Set

I shall always be grateful for this curious love of history, allowing me to spend a lifetime looking back into the past, allowing me to learn from these large figures about the struggle for meaning for life. Doris Kearns Goodwin

I really believe that what happens one day affects the next, and I think that came from that experience of learning that if I told the score inning by inning, play by play, it built up to its natural climax. Doris Kearns Goodwin

Day Learning Experience Natural Believe Think Inning One Day Built Climax Came Score Affects Up Happens Really Next Play

My books are written with a strong chronological spine. Doris Kearns Goodwin

Strong Chronological Books Spine Written

My recurring nightmare is that someday I will be faced with a panel: Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson all of whom will be telling me everything I got wrong about them. I know that Johnson's out there saying, 'Why is it that what you wrote about the Kennedys is twice as long as the book you wrote about me?' Doris Kearns Goodwin

Saying Me You Book Will Long Lyndon Lyndon Johnson Panel Everything Franklin Franklin Roosevelt Out Telling John John Kennedy Someday About Faced Johnson Recurring Wrong Know Wrote Got Them Roosevelt Whom Twice Why Kennedy Kennedys Nightmare

I've been to the White House a number of times. Doris Kearns Goodwin

White White House House Been Times Number

Quotes by Historians