David Grann Quotes

Powerful David Grann for Daily Growth

About David Grann

David Grann is an acclaimed American journalist, non-fiction writer, and staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. Born on October 19, 1969, in Worcester, Massachusetts, he grew up with a strong interest in literature, history, and adventure. This curiosity led him to pursue an undergraduate degree in English Literature at Swarthmore College and a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University. Grann's writing career began at The Trinity Alumni Magazine before moving on to Time magazine. However, it was his work at The New Yorker that catapulted him to international acclaim. His articles often explore themes of adventure, crime, history, and the human condition, blending meticulous research with gripping storytelling. One of his most notable works is "The Lost City of Z" (2005), a New Yorker article that was later expanded into a best-selling book in 2009. The book tells the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett, who disappeared while searching for an ancient city in the Amazon jungle in 1925. Another significant work is "The Old Man and the Gun" (2003), a New Yorker article about Forrest Tucker, a charming bank robber who broke out of San Quentin at the age of 70 to embark on one last string of heists. This story was later adapted into a film starring Robert Redford in 2018. Grann's writing is characterized by his ability to weave together historical events, personal narratives, and suspenseful storytelling. His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including two National Magazine Awards and the J. Anthony Lukas Prize for non-fiction book that best reflects "the values of a free and responsible press."

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Facts are the enemy of the myth."

The quote suggests that myths, stories, or beliefs that are based on tradition, emotion, or conjecture often thrive in an environment where facts, evidence, or hard truths are not prioritized. In other words, when people cling to myths without questioning them using facts and logic, these myths can become ingrained in our collective understanding, overshadowing the truth. The quote serves as a reminder that it's essential to use facts and evidence to challenge and dispel myths for a more accurate and informed understanding of the world.

"Truth is often elusive, hidden beneath a tangle of half-truths, misinformation, and outright lies."

This quote highlights the complexity and intricacy of uncovering truth in a world where information can be distorted or manipulated. It suggests that the pursuit of truth requires diligent effort to navigate through a web of seemingly accurate but partially false or misleading data, as well as outright deception. The quote underscores the importance of critical thinking and fact-checking in our quest for knowledge and understanding.

"The past casts its long shadow over us all."

The quote by David Grann, "The past casts its long shadow over us all," emphasizes that our history profoundly influences our present and future. The 'long shadow' symbolizes the lasting impact of past events, decisions, or circumstances on individuals, communities, or societies. This can be interpreted as an acknowledgment that our past shapes our identity, beliefs, behaviors, and relationships in both visible and invisible ways. Understanding this connection between the past and present is essential for personal growth, social harmony, and historical awareness.

"It's not the first time that history has been rewritten to conform to an ideology or political agenda."

This quote by David Grann underscores the observation that historical narratives can be manipulated or distorted, often intentionally, to align with a particular ideology or political perspective. It emphasizes the importance of critical thinking in examining historical records, as understanding the past is essential for learning from it and navigating the present and future.

"In the search for the truth, there are no shortcuts."

This quote underscores the importance of thoroughness and patience in the pursuit of knowledge or truth. It suggests that taking shortcuts can lead to missed details, inaccuracies, or misunderstandings, thus hindering our ultimate goal of finding the truth. The message encourages diligence, meticulousness, and perseverance in our quest for understanding, as it emphasizes that the journey towards truth is often a long and winding one but always worthwhile.

I was a schoolteacher; I taught seventh and eighth grade, and I tried to write fiction on the side.

- David Grann

Tried, Side, Taught, Schoolteacher

One of the things I believe strongly in is developing institutions - legal, press, bureaucracies, academies - that are rooted in the pursuit of impartial truth. That aren't simply just bent to partisan ends or are corrupted for the powerful or for other ulterior motives.

- David Grann

Other, One Of The Things, Corrupted

The public, the whites - not just in Oklahoma, but across the United States - were transfixed by the Osage wealth which belied images of Native Americans that could be traced back to the first brutal contact with whites.

- David Grann

Wealth, United States, Which, Native Americans

Like many people, I kicked around, struggled to become a writer, finally got my first full-time job around 27, 28, at 'The Hill' newspaper. They hired me as a copy editor, which was kind of funny because I'm semi-blind because I have an eye disorder.

- David Grann

Newspaper, Full-Time, Around, Kicked

Memory is a code to who we are, a collection of not just dates and facts but also of epic emotional struggles, epiphanies, transformations.

- David Grann

Memory, Emotional, Code, Epic

After a traumatic event, people tend to store a series of memories and arrange them into a meaningful narrative. They remember exactly where they were and to whom they were talking.

- David Grann

Store, Narrative, Them, Traumatic

The Osage have this lovely phrase: 'Travelers in the Mist.' It was the term for part of an Osage clan that would take the lead whenever the tribe was venturing into unfamiliar realms. And, in a way, we are all travelers in the mist. The challenge is that, as writers, we sometimes want to ignore this murkiness, or we want to write around it.

- David Grann

Sometimes, Part, Around, Tribe

The giant squid is the perfect embodiment of a sea monster: it is huge, it has tentacles, it has big eyes, and it is absolutely frightening-looking. But, most important, it is real. Unlike the Loch Ness monster, we know it's out there.

- David Grann

Real, Big, Perfect, Embodiment

The outlaw, in the American imagination, is a subject of romance - a 'good' bad man, he is typically a master of escape, a crack shot, a ladies' man.

- David Grann

Bad, Romance, Outlaw, Ladies

For a while, when I got out of college, I tried to write fiction. I'd grown up more around novelists, and my initial attraction was to write fiction. But I was much less suited for it. I always struggled to figure out what people were saying or doing in a particular moment.

- David Grann

College, Doing, Novelists, Attraction

Base stealers are often considered their own breed: reckless, egocentric, even a touch mad.

- David Grann

Own, Touch, Considered, Breed

The amazing thing about the sea is that it is perhaps the last truly unexplored frontier; most oceanographers estimate that only about ninety-five per cent of the sea has been studied. Meanwhile, the oceans are believed to contain more animals than exist on land, a majority of which have never been discovered.

- David Grann

Been, Discovered, Cent, Oceans

Because I read so much nonfiction for work, I enjoy fiction most, especially detective novels and mysteries that keep me awake at night.

- David Grann

Work, Fiction, Read, Nonfiction

The political hero is not like the sports champion or matinee idol or daring inventor; like the war hero, he is born only of tragedy.

- David Grann

Sports, Born, Like, Champion

I had always been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan.

- David Grann

Always, Been, Holmes, Sherlock

Because many squid have brain nerve fibres that are hundreds of times thicker than those of humans, neuroscientists have long used them for research. These nerve fibres have led to so many breakthroughs in the study of neurons that many scientists joke that the squid should receive a Nobel Prize.

- David Grann

Study, Thicker, Led, Nobel Prize

Books were a huge part of my childhood growing up. We would go on vacation, and my mom was always carting manuscripts around.

- David Grann

Childhood, Always, Huge Part, Vacation

Firemen have a culture of death. There are rituals, carefully constructed for the living, to process the dead.

- David Grann

Death, Process, Living, Firemen

I am not, by nature, an explorer or an adventurer.

- David Grann

Nature, I Am, Explorer, Adventurer

You have to go where the truth takes you, and that doesn't always take you in exactly the same place where people you speak to might want,or suspects may want. That's your ultimate obligation.

- David Grann

Always, Might, May, Suspects

I don't normally do pure historical work.

- David Grann

Work, Pure, Historical, Normally

It took me a long time to be able to write for the 'New Yorker,' and for me, that has been the best job. I live a very conventional life, but reporting for the magazine has allowed me to do things I would never otherwise do, such as investigating a criminal conspiracy in Guatemala or trekking through the Amazon looking for a lost city.

- David Grann

Through, Been, Very, Reporting

I was not very good at newspaper reporting. I'm just not quick enough, and I always tend to tell things as stories.

- David Grann

Newspaper, Always, Very, Reporting

In Brazil, the history of the interaction between blancos and indios - whites and Indians - often reads like an extended epitaph. Tribes were wiped out by disease and massacres; languages and songs were obliterated.

- David Grann

Brazil, Disease, Wiped, Tribes

One of my favorite authors to read is Eric Ambler, who helped pioneer the form of realistic suspense novels.

- David Grann

Pioneer, Read, Eric, Novels

My night stand is more like a geological structure: a bunch of books piled on the floor with its own strata.

- David Grann

Night, More, Like, Piled

I don't camp; I don't hike. I hate bugs, and I'm phobic of snakes.

- David Grann

Hate, Snakes, Bugs, Camp

I don't hunt, I don't camp, and I get lost on my subway to work here in Times Square!

- David Grann

Times Square, Here, Hunt, Camp

When I work on stories, I tend to lose sight of everything else. I forget to pay bills or to shave. I don't change my clothes as often as I should.

- David Grann

Work, Lose, Stories, Everything Else

Early on, I tried fiction, but I wasn't very good at it. I wrote a very bad novel that is thankfully sitting in a drawer somewhere.

- David Grann

Bad, Fiction, Very, Drawer

My mother doesn't need much sleep. At any hour of the night, you'd wake up, and she'd be reading. She'd read five, six books a week. When we went on sailing trips, she'd bring a suitcaseful for the week. Even then, her office would have to send more.

- David Grann

Wake Up, Week, Bring, Trips

The biggest difference with Twitter and writing long form is you're part of a virtual community where you know people, or think you know them, through their links.

- David Grann

Think, Through, Virtual, Biggest Difference

I grew up around writers, and there was always a romance to them. They were charming. They would tell their stories of what they were working on, over the table.

- David Grann

Always, Over, Romance, Table

I have lots of gaps in my education, and so I'm often picking up classic books that most people read years ago.

- David Grann

Education, Often, Read, Gaps

I think you get into trouble as an author and a journalist when, rather than owning the gaps, you try to elide them.

- David Grann

Think, I Think, Rather, Gaps

You think of the rainforest as this incredibly abundant place of fauna and animals and flora. This great, rich wilderness. And yet it is such a biological battlefield in which everything is competing.

- David Grann

Think, Competing, Which, Biological

There's a tendency when we write history to do it with the power of hindsight and then assume almost god-like knowledge that nobody living through history has.

- David Grann

Living, Through, Tendency, Assume

I haven't read a word of Proust. And I listen obsessively to sports radio.

- David Grann

Sports, Word, Read, Proust

The way we live history is not the way historians tell history. Our lives are messy and chaotic and bewildering.

- David Grann

Historians, Bewildering, Chaotic

I don't want to just traffic in sensationalism or in mere blood.

- David Grann

Want, Just, Mere, Traffic

Journalists are often portrayed as cynical. I often think it's the opposite.

- David Grann

Think, Often, Portrayed, Cynical

Baseball, of course, has long been played under the burden of metaphor. More so than basketball or football, it is supposed to represent something larger than itself.

- David Grann

More, Been, Larger, Represent

I never want to make people upset, but sometimes we may. When I interview people, I try to make it clear that our obligation is to what we uncover and to telling that story and to presenting it fairly and making sure everyone has a say.

- David Grann

Upset, Making, Telling, Interview

I don't cry too often reading books, but I did reading Francisco Goldman's autobiographical novel, 'Say Her Name.'

- David Grann

Reading Books, Francisco, Novel

You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual, element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it?

- David Grann

Some, Which, Almost, Element

A lot of the stories I write about have an element of mystery. They're crime stories or conspiracy stories or quests. They do have built into them revelations and twists. But the revelations, to me, come from seeing history as it's unfolding, or life as it's unfolding.

- David Grann

I Write, About, Revelations, Element

Most of Gingrich's moderate positions are rooted in a realpolitik that transcends ideology.

- David Grann

Most, Ideology, Transcends, Moderate

I'm kind of odd; I'm a technophobe who isn't a technophobe. I'm afraid of new things, but eventually I love them. That happened with Twitter.

- David Grann

Love, New Things, New, Odd

I had many different careers early on. I knew I wanted to be a writer. But, like so many people, I didn't know how to be one - other than just do it. I didn't know what form it would take.

- David Grann

Other, Like, Knew, Just Do It

There are certain stories that remind you of the moral purpose that originally drew you to become a reporter.

- David Grann

Purpose, Stories, Originally, Remind

I really just choose stories that are compelling, have interesting trends and characters, and hopefully say something larger about society.

- David Grann

Stories, Larger, Compelling, Hopefully

I've always been a big believer that you can use the elements of storytelling to bring the reader along and to hopefully illuminate a lot of the important things. It's a challenge, but it's something I kind of believe in.

- David Grann

Storytelling, Big, Been, Hopefully

Honestly, I had no idea what to do on Twitter when I started. I didn't follow it enough. Slowly, though, I started to realize what I'm okay at. Like, I'm just not particularly witty.

- David Grann

Okay, Particularly, Honestly, Slowly

The romantic notion of the clubhouse as a traveling fraternity of working-class heroes - the boys of summer - is perhaps the most potent in all of baseball.

- David Grann

Working-Class, Potent, Fraternity

I tried a few grad school programs because I didn't know how to make it... Eventually, I was desperate for a job, and there was a new newspaper opening up in Washington, D.C., called 'The Hill.' Even though my interest in politics wasn't huge, they gave me a job as a copy editor.

- David Grann

Politics, Newspaper, Opening

When criminals go free, the hope is that history will come in and provide some level of justice. It won't correct the sins, but it will at least record them. The sinners would be known, and the victims' stories would be known.

- David Grann

Some, Stories, Correct, Victims

I often feel that with a crime story, the moral standards have to be higher. You're deal with real victims and with real consequences.

- David Grann

Feel, Deal, Often, Victims

We all mythologize to some degree ourselves and probably embellish. I think some of that is the desire to tell stories.

- David Grann

Think, Some, I Think, Embellish

To be honest, I used to always procrastinate when I write. I mean, I love writing, but I hate it.

- David Grann

Love, Always, Procrastinate, To Be Honest

I covered Congress, and everyone always wanted me to be a political reporter.

- David Grann

Always, Congress, Wanted, Covered

I wish a book could reach as many people as film, but we have to be realistic about it.

- David Grann

Wish, I Wish, Could, Realistic

It's funny: I don't know if she babysat, but I spent time with Judy Blume when I was little.

- David Grann

She, Know, Spent, Judy

I spend my life mostly disproving conspiracies.

- David Grann

My Life, Mostly, Spend, Conspiracies

One of the nice things about 'The New Yorker' is they let you write stories that sometimes end up almost half a book.

- David Grann

New, Stories, Half, Nice Things

The only thing as murky as a conspiracy is what's happening in Hollywood.

- David Grann

Conspiracy, Hollywood, Only, Happening

I've done a lot of stories over the years, and sometimes there are larks, and they're fun, and you kind of move on.

- David Grann

Over, Move, Stories, Move On

Crime stories are often sensationalized. They can provoke lower standards.

- David Grann

Standards, Stories, Lower, Provoke

A lot of the stuff I tweet is out of childlike curiosity.

- David Grann

Curiosity, Childlike, Lot, Tweet

When I work on stories, I tend to be pretty obsessive.

- David Grann

Pretty, Stories, Tend, Obsessive

It was a very circuitous path. It was not very linear - I floundered about for many years.

- David Grann

Path, Very, About, Linear

I often say that the best way to find a story is a one-inch brief in a local newspaper.

- David Grann

Newspaper, Find, Best Way, Brief

There are some incredibly gifted writers in the world. You can count them on a hand. They're blessed, and they've worked at their craft, but there's very few.

- David Grann

Some, Count, Very, Gifted

Although baseball actually began as a game played largely by urban toughs, its image was soon reconstructed to mirror the country's pastoral myth.

- David Grann

Game, Country, Image, Largely

I look for stories everywhere.

- David Grann

Look, Stories, Everywhere

Barry Bonds was still young when his father's fall began. Although Bobby still continued to put up good numbers year after year, he never lived up to expectations.

- David Grann

Young, Still, Began, Expectations

I'm not a post-modernist. Especially when I do crime stories.

- David Grann

Stories, Crime

We are a country of laws. When you take that away, the consequences are enormous.

- David Grann

Country, Laws, Take, Consequences

I guess if I had to pick one interest that is unique, it would be giant squids - I'm disturbingly fascinated by them and even wrote a story about the hunt for them.

- David Grann

About, Had, Wrote, Hunt

I'm a very slow reader.

- David Grann

Very, Reader, Slow

I'm sure every author has their own process.

- David Grann

Process, Own, Sure, Author

If I can find the right idea, I can get out of the way and do a good story.

- David Grann

Good, Right, Idea, Good Story

Heroes have always served as a reflection of their times, a template of who we are and what we want to be.

- David Grann

Heroes, Always, Times, Served

There was a part of me that always wanted to be an editor.

- David Grann

Always, Part, Wanted, Editor

I love the magic of stories and the power of stories.

- David Grann

Love, Stories, I Love, Magic

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