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

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

Almost everything Truman did in foreign affairs I approve of.

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

The war in Vietnam I thought a dreadful mistake.

The great wars of the 20th Century made it into the worst Century ever.

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?

History is everything that has ever happened.

You don’t hate history, you hate the way it was taught to you in high school.

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.

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

American corporations hate to give away money.

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

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

The irony here is the man who has done the most to keep these papers from becoming available, Dick Nixon, is the man who’s going to benefit the most from them because people are going to start seeing the problems from his point of view.

Washington, not Jefferson, freed his slaves upon his death.

Immigrants do more than help us win our wars, or set up cleaning shops or ethnic restaurants.

We are part of a country that outshines those that have gone before us and most of those in existence today.

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

We voted 50-50 for the next president, … One of the things that was notable was how much the American people today yearn for a sense of national unity and that brought it about. So there are a lot of things that happened after 12/7/41 that are happening now and will continue to happen, the...

Washington’s character was rock solid. He came to stand for the new nation and its republican virtues, which was why he became our first President by unanimous choice.

It does you no good to see the number two or number three man in the corporation-you have to get through to number one.

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

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

Nearly every artifact has a story connected to it, whether it be a hole in a helmet or a belt that a medic carried around with him as he treated the wounded on the beach.

My first book was the book that changed my life.

The more sophisticated we get, the more advanced our buildings and vehicles become, the more vulnerable we are.

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

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

You cannot kill that city, … I bet there’s people saying, I’ve got to go back.’

The Holocaust was the most evil crime ever committed.

Reading your own material aloud forces you to listen.

In 1945, there were more people killed, more buildings destroyed, more high explosives set off, more fires burning than before or since.

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

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

You can take the day off.

World War II, the atomic bomb, the Cold War, made it hard for Americans to continue their optimism.

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.

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.

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

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.

a great teacher of writing.

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

Neither Johnson nor his party nor the government as a whole were willing to raise, train, equip, and then send Vietnam sufficient manpower to do the job.

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.

To be a slaveholder meant one had to regard the African American as inferior in every way.

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

As a people, we have wrestled with Vietnam’s legacy for many years, as was and is our duty. Now we want to remind ourselves of what we have done right. Our involvement in World War II was us doing right.

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

Trial by jury. Live wherever you can make a living. How could a government based on such principles fail?