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
To go back and read Swift and Defoe and Samuel Johnson and Smollett and Pope - all those people we had to read in college English courses - to read them now is to have one of the infinite pleasures in life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Revisiting classic literature can bring immense joy and deeper understanding as we mature.
David McCullough highlights the transformative experience of re-reading classic authors after having gained life experience. What may have seemed like a chore in college English courses can become a richly rewarding exploration, allowing us to discover new layers of meaning and pleasure in their works as we grow and evolve.
Themes
LiteratureClassicsReadingPleasureEducation
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion about the joys of re-reading, this quote captures the essence of rediscovering old favorites.
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I just thank my father and mother, my lucky stars, that I had the advantage of an education in the humanities.
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Napoleon could never imagine that some people loved their country as much as he loved his own.
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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.
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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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