David McCulloughHistory is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.
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History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are. It is hard to imagine what life was like in the world when humans first evolved. The Earth was a very hostile place.
Humans were not used to living in that environment, so they struggled to survive. When our ancestors settled in groups in their new homes, they began sharing in common problems, such as drought, famine, and warfare. They also began sharing their stories of how things got this way.
The more people heard these stories, the more they knew about their own history and also about other groups of people who were also struggling to survive. These experiences helped them to get through the tough times and make it to the next day, but they did not stop there. They continued to share knowledge with one another, which gave them the ability to survive even longer into the future. Smarter people learned more about what worked for them and what did not work; however, they did not forget their past experiences because they understood that each person learns from his or her own mistakes.
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More Quotes By David McCullough
- 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."; NEH 2003 Jefferson Lecturer interview profile]
- Morality only is eternal. All the rest is balloon and bubble from the cradle to the grave.
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- Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard.", July/Aug. 2002, Vol. 23/No. 4)
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