The American Story Quotes

“He loved to tell a story about the Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen, who went to England after the war. They decided to embarrass him by putting a huge picture of General George Washington in the only outhouse that was connected to the dinner party. He goes into the outhouse and he comes out and he’s not upset at all. And they said, “Well, didn’t you see George Washington there?” “Oh, yes,” he said. “It was the perfectly appropriate place for him.” “What do you mean?” “Well,” he said, “there’s nothing to make an Englishman shit faster than the sight of General George Washington.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“There is another characteristic of George Washington I particularly admire. He thought in the long term. His correspondence is laced with the phrase “a century hence.” He thought about what our country would be like in a hundred or even two hundred years. And he did so in the crush of everyday political life, in which decisions had to be every day made under the pressure of events, in a hectic world like our own. He thought about us. He thought about the twenty-first century. He challenges us to think about a distant posterity—about the world we are making for generations yet unborn.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“Jefferson was in favor of a weaker federal government.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“Nothing like that happens anymore.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“How close did it come to not actually getting built?”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“he didn’t want to appear impulsive or biased in any way,”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“we no longer see how revolutionary it was.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“that respect for the presidency would ultimately have little to do with titles”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“and events proved him right.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“He just went back to being a planter?”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“They took the city without much difficulty,”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“Washington managed much of that himself,”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“he was a robust young man in the prime of his life.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“The same age as John Kennedy was elected president.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“I have used every endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with you and the family, but from”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“have used every endeavor in my power to avoid it,”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“The Revolution had begun in Massachusetts, and most of the early fighting was in New England.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“Washington moved around as a child,”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“Our national independence is Washington’s legacy.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“He could have lived longer had he been less hospitable:”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“Washington’s greatest legacy was his willingness to give up power.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“The United States has an abundance of them,”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“I kept us out of an unnecessary war.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“This great institution [the Library of Congress] was signed into existence by John Adams, a man who never stopped reading.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“Act well your part, there all the honor lies.” In other words, history has cast you in these roles and you better damn well play that role to the best of your ability.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“The slaves weren’t all in the South. They were sort of a status symbol in Boston,”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“he wasn’t just doing this to follow the crowd. He was doing what he felt was right. And”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“they realized that somebody had to occupy that role, and they were going to be supportive of me in doing that. And it meant a lot to me.”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians

“I will always be grateful for how they made me feel welcome and comfortable. In”
― David M. Rubenstein, The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians