David McCullough Character Quotations

I'm drawn particularly to stories that evolve out of the character of the protagonist.

Unlike the people you see in Mathew Brady's photographs from the Civil War, the men and women of the Revolution seem more like characters in a costume pageant. And it's a pageant in which the performers are all handsome as stage actors, with uniforms and dress that are always costume perfect.

Books can change your life. Some of the most influential people in our lives are characters we meet in books.

My love is to tell a story but I like stories that evolve from character, from the nature of the individuals involved.

History isn't just what happened, but what happened to whom and why and what would have been different if the cast of characters had been different.

Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer.