Just imagine if in his inaugural address John F. Kennedy had said, 'Ask not what your country can, you know, do for you, but what you can, like, do for your country actually.
David McCulloughI don't pick my presidents because they were great presidents. I'm not much interested in ranking presidents and who is the best and who is the worst. I am much more inclined to be interested in them if they had an interesting life and if they were a complete person - and by that I mean they also had flaws and failings.
David McCulloughI'm very aware how many distractions the reader has in life today, how many good reasons there are to put the book down.
David McCulloughIf everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.
David McCullough