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

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

quote by David McCullough
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First of all, you can make the argument that there's no such thing as the past. Nobody lived in the past.

quote by David McCullough
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I just thank my father and mother, my lucky stars, that I had the advantage of an education in the humanities.

quote by David McCullough
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I'm very aware how many distractions the reader has in life today, how many good reasons there are to put the book down.

quote by David McCullough
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There's an awful temptation to just keep on researching. There comes a point where you just have to stop, and start writing.

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In time I began to understand that it's when you start writing that you really find out what you don't know and need to know.

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The pull, the attraction of history, is in our human nature. What makes us tick? Why do we do what we do? How much is luck the deciding factor?

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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.

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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.

quote by David McCullough
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