Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes

“A best-seller was a book which somehow sold well because it was selling well.”

“A sign of celebrity is that his name is often worth more than his services.”

“A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer screen, is that you can take it to bed with you.”

“By reading we discover our world, our history, and ourselves.”

“Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.”

“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.
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“I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress. No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever.”

“I write to discover what I think.”

“Planning for the future without a sense of history is like planting cut flowers.”

“Reading is like the sex act — done privately, and often in bed.”

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire good PR.”

“Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.”

“The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.”

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.”

“There is no cure for illusions. There is only the opportunity for discovery.”

“There is no disinfectant like success.”

“We must abandon the prevalent belief in the superior wisdom of the ignorant.”

“When I was living in England I found that the more I lived abroad, the more American I discovered I was.”