Quotes By Stephen Ambrose

As to the Indians, the guiding principle was, promise them anything just so long as they get out of the way.

I was too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam.

My first book was the book that changed my life.

Washington and Jefferson were both rich Virginia planters, but they were never friends.

It would not be possible to praises nurses too highly.

Johnson had been the most powerful man in the world, yet the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong had resisted, overcome his power, broken his will.

My favorite book is the last one printed, which is always better than those that were published earlier.

I'm no politician. I'm an historian who has learned through a lifetime of studying that nothing in the world beats universal education.

Eisenhower had the clearest blue eyes. He would fix them on you. In my every interview with him, he would lock his eyes on to mine and keep them there.

The number one secret of being a successful writer is this: marry an English major.

Dams have harmed our wildlife and made rivers less useful for recreation.

The Canadians have managed to live peacefully with their Indians. It is disgrace that the United States has not done the same.

Jefferson owned slaves. He did not believe that all were created equal. He was a racist.

History is everything that has ever happened.

Writing is not the easiest way to make a living. Your work long hours, usually all by yourself. It is not a way to make money.

The American Constitution is the greatest governing document, and at some 7,000 words, just about the shortest.

American is the first democratic nation-state.

Even before Watergate and his resignation, Nixon had inspired conflicting and passionate emotions.

I've always tried to be fair to my subjects. That's easy when they are as likable and admirable as Lewis and Clark, or Eisenhower.

Winning the Revolutionary War, or the Civil War, or World War II were the turning points in our history, the sine qua non of our forward progress.

Reading your own material aloud forces you to listen.

The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.

Custer had dead heroes. Crazy Horse had only live ones.

There are many more want-to-be writers out there than good editors.

Who today is willing to say that Texas and California and the remainder of the Southwest would be better off if they were governed by Mexico?

Nixon regarded himself as having been cheated by life. He never got my vote.

Like their predecessors, the Presidents of today just throw up their hands.

Crazy Horse saw history as integrated in the present, incorporated into daily life.

I was taught by professors who had done their schooling in the 1930s. Most of them were scornful of, even hated, big business.

I thought Nixon was the worst President we had ever had, save only perhaps Andrew Johnson.