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
Only those who [do] nothing [make] no mistakes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Making mistakes is a part of taking action and learning, while inaction leads to no mistakes but also no achievements.
David McCullough's quote emphasizes the inevitability of mistakes in life, suggesting that those who take risks and take action are bound to make errors. However, this is not a negative attribute; rather, it reflects the courage to engage with opportunities, learn from experiences, and ultimately grow, as inaction ensures one will never learn from their mistakes or achieve anything worthwhile.
Themes
MistakesActionLearningCourageFailure
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about innovation, this quote can highlight the importance of taking risks.
More from David Mccullough
All quotes βThere is only one person who can measure your success. That person is you.
David McculloughRead
I just thank my father and mother, my lucky stars, that I had the advantage of an education in the humanities.
David McculloughRead
Napoleon could never imagine that some people loved their country as much as he loved his own.
David McculloughRead
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.
David McculloughRead
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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Anxiety is sort of the opposite of ego. You're so sure you'll do everything wrong you're afraid to do anything at all. It results from over-motivation- leading to errors that lead to an underestimation of one's self. Work out your anxieties on paper and read. This calms the mind.
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Dig inside. Inside is the fountain of good, and it will forever flow, if you will forever dig.
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Kind words produce their own image in men's souls; and a beautiful image it is. They soothe and quiet and comfort the hearer. They shame him out of his sour, morose, unkind feelings. We have not yet begun to use kind words in such abundance as they ought to be used.
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Welcome anything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.
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What other people do shouldn't affect you - we do things because of the kind of person we each want to be
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Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun.
C. S. LewisRead