History Matters by David McCullough

After David McCullough passed away, his daughter published a collection of his various speeches and writings into a book called History Matters. The picture on the cover is one of the most inspiring photographs of some one at work. Because McCullough is my favorite author, I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Here are some notes and highlights. On happiness and learning: And how he loved that task. “We speak a language that isn’t ours,” McCullough notes in these pages. “It’s been handed down to us with a tradition of expression and power that is well worth a lifetime of study, and particularly for those for whom writing is a way of life. I love what I do. I love every day of it. Happiness—true happiness—is not to be found in vacations or the like. It’s to be found in the love of learning and doing what you really want to get up and get to each day.” A good Churchill line: Churchill in his great speech in the darkest hours of the Second World War, when he crossed the Atlantic, reminded us,…