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

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

I love all sides of the work but that doesn't mean it isn't hard.
David McCullough

When I began, I thought that the way one should work was to do all the research and then write the book.
David McCullough

No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read.
David McCullough

May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.
David McCullough

With the Truman book, I wrote the entire account of his experiences in World War I before going over to Europe to follow his tracks in the war. When I got there, there was a certain satisfaction in finding I had it right - it does look like that.
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