Quotes by Stephen Ambrose

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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