American - Historian | July 7, 1933 -
When I began, I thought that the way one should work was to do all the research and then write the book.
David McCullough
WorkResearchBookThoughtWayThen
To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is.
MusicHistoryArtResponsibilityMe
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.
LifePeopleCollegeBackGoNow
There's an awful temptation to just keep on researching. There comes a point where you just have to stop, and start writing.
WritingStartYouTemptationStop
The title always comes last. What I really work hard on is the beginning. Where do you begin? In what tone do you begin? I almost have to have a scene in my mind.
WorkBeginningMindWork HardYou
People are so helpful. People will stop what they're doing to show you something, to walk with you through a section of the town, or explain how a suspension bridge really works.
WalkPeopleBridgeDoingYouStop
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.
HopeMeBookInterestingI CanKind
I'm very aware how many distractions the reader has in life today, how many good reasons there are to put the book down.
LifeGoodTodayBookDownAware
I'm drawn particularly to stories that evolve out of the character of the protagonist.
CharacterOutEvolveStoriesDrawn
I would pay to do what I do if I had to.
PayWouldHad
I love Dickens. I love the way he sets a scene.
LoveWayHeSceneI LoveDickens
I love all sides of the work but that doesn't mean it isn't hard.
WorkLoveMeanSidesHardI Love
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict David McCullough quotes