Daniel J. Boorstin
Daniel J. Boorstin
Daniel Joseph Boorstinwas an American historian at the University of Chicago, writing on many topics in American history and world history. He was appointed twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in 1975 and served until 1987. He was instrumental in the creation of the Library of Congress Center for the Book...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth1 October 1914
CountryUnited States of America
art creativity simple
Creators, makers of the new, can never become obsolete, for in the arts there is no correct answer. The story of discoverers could be told in simple chronological order, since the latest science replaces what went before. But the arts are another story- a story of infinite addition. We must find order in the random flexings of the imagination.
dog sheep cities
The cities of Italy are now deluged with droves of these creatures [tour groups], for they never separate, and you see them, forty in number, pouring along a street with their director - now in front, now at the rear, circling them like a sheep dog - and really the process is as like herding as may be.
men order facts
Since the Creator had made the facts of the after-life inaccessible to man, He must not have required that man understand death in order to live fruitfully.
way problem
The problem for us is less to discover the way it really is than to see the meaning of the way.
people library defense
Historians will not fail to note that a people who could spend $300 billion on defense refused to spend a tiny fraction of that total to keep their libraries open in the evening.
government america common-sense
In America, communities existed before governments. There were many groups of people with a common sense of purpose and a feeling of duty to one another before there were political institutions.
worn-it effort ruts
Where ruts have not yet been worn, it requires less effort to stay out of them.
debate produce dissent
Disagreement produces debate but dissent produces dissension.
promise important lessons
The most important lesson of American history is the promise of the unexpected. None of our ancestors would have imagined settling way over here on this unknown continent. So we must continue to have society that is hospitable to the unexpected, which allows possibilities to develop beyond our own imaginings.
book messengers slave
Books are messengers of freedom. They can be hidden under a mattress or smuggled into slave nations.
hero names achievement
The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his name or trademark.
civilization might naive
American civilization, from its beginnings, had combined a dogmatic confidence in the future with a naive puzzlement over what the future might bring.
thinking mind vagrants
The mind is a vagrant thing.... Thinking is not analogous to a person working in a laboratory who invents something on company time.
book needs information
It is very unlikely that the computer will displace the books, except in areas where we need information speedily.