If you get down about the state of American culture, just remember there are still more public libraries in this country than there are McDonalds.
David McculloughRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the distinction between passion and professionalism in the field of writing history.
David McCullough points out that being an amateur, in the true sense, means engaging in an activity out of love and passion, while also recognizing that professionals in the field contribute significantly to the discipline. It suggests that both amateurs and professionals play valuable roles in the pursuit of history, with amateurs driven by passion and professionals by their career.
Themes
PassionHistoryWritingProfessionalsAmateurs
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire students pursuing creative writing to remember the importance of writing for love.
More from David Mccullough
All quotes →There is only one person who can measure your success. That person is you.
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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.
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Napoleon could never imagine that some people loved their country as much as he loved his own.
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When the founders wrote about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, they didn't mean longer vacations and more comfortable hammocks. They meant the pursuit of learning. The pursuit of improvement and excellence. In hard work is happiness.
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Any nation that expects to be ignorant and free," Jefferson said, "expects what never was and never will be." And if the gap between the educated and the uneducated in America continues to grow as it is in our time, as fast as or faster than the gap between the rich and the poor, the gap between the educated and the uneducated is going to be of greater consequence and the more serious threat to our way of life. We must not, by any means, misunderstand that.
David McculloughRead
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