Stephen Ambrose Quotes
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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.
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Neighbors are far better acoustic analyzers for determining the quality of their life versus any acoustic instrument left unattended by an expert.
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The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.
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In one of his last newsletters, Mike Ranney wrote: "In thinking back on the days of Easy Company, I'm treasuring my remark to a grandson who asked, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' No,'" I answered, 'but I served in a company of heroes.
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History is everything that has ever happened.
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World War II, the atomic bomb, the Cold War, made it hard for Americans to continue their optimism.
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I thought Nixon was the worst President we had ever had, save only perhaps Andrew Johnson.
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During the Second World War, the Germans took four years to build the Atlantic Wall. On four beaches it held up the Allies for about an hour; at Omaha it held up the U.S. for less than one day. The Atlantic Wall must therefore be regarded as one of the greatest blunders in military history.
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Friends never cheat on each other, or take advantage, or lie. Friends do not spy on one another, yet they have no secrets. Friends glory in each other's successes and are downcast by the failures. Friends minister to each other, nurse each other. Friends give to each other, worry about each other, stand always ready to help. Perfect friendship is rarely achieved, but at its height it is an ecstasy.
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The war in Vietnam I thought a dreadful mistake.
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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.
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At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn't want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed. So they fought, and won, and we all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful.
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I think that the opportunity to improve race relations in the United States has been put off temporarily.
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Reading your own material aloud forces you to listen.
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I think it's just that the private lives of our public leaders are so much more exposed today that if you're sensitive to protecting your family, it's much harder to not get defensive when somebody asks you those really rude questions about what your wife and your children are thinking and feeling at that exact moment.
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Within Easy Company they had made the best friends they had ever had, or would ever have. They were prepared to die for each other; more important, they were prepared to kill for each other.
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In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries you have these great nation states hurling their young men at one another. The victory was really going to rest on who could do the best job of bringing up their kids to become efficient and effective soldiers. That's pretty grandiose, I guess, but I do think that, and thank God it's been the armies of democracy that have emerged from this as the triumphant armies.
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Almost everything Truman did in foreign affairs I approve of.
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I was taught by professors who had done their schooling in the 1930s. Most of them were scornful of, even hated, big business.
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The number one secret of being a successful writer is this: marry an English major.
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Jefferson owned slaves. He did not believe that all were created equal. He was a racist.
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To have some parts flowing free again . . . with deer grazing on its banks . . . ducks and geese raising their young in the backwaters . . . eddies and twists and turns for canoeists . . . and fishing opportunities such as Lewis and Clark enjoyed . . . would be the finest possible tribute to the men of the Expedition, and a priceless gift for our children.
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American corporations hate to give away money.
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The more sophisticated we get, the more advanced our buildings and vehicles become, the more vulnerable we are.