I write to discover what I think. After all, the bars aren’t open that early.

About Daniel J. Boorstin

Daniel Joseph Boorstinwas an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in 1975 and served until 1987.

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More quotes from Daniel J. Boorstin

An image is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

As you make your bed, so you must lie in it.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

The force of the advertising word and image dwarfs the power of other literature in the 20th century.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

Human models are more vivid and more persuasive than explicit moral commands.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

We need not be theologians to see that we have shifted responsibility for making the world interesting from God to the newspaperman.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

I’ve learned any fool can write a bad ad, but it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

I write to discover what I think. After all, the bars aren’t open that early.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

Knowledge is not simply another commodity. On the contrary. Knowledge is never used up. It increases by diffusion and grows by dispersion.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

Reading is like the sex act – done privately, and often in bed.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in their place.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes “sight-seeing.”

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

We read advertisements… to discover and enlarge our desires. We are always ready – even eager – to discover, from the announcement of a new product, what we have all along wanted without really knowing it.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

As individuals and as a nation, we now suffer from social narcissism. The beloved Echo of our ancestors, the virgin America, has been abandoned. We have fallen in love with our own image, with images of our making, which turn out to be images of ourselves.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

The most important American addition to the World Experience was the simple surprising fact of America. We have helped prepare mankind for all its later surprises.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

Nothing is really real unless it happens on television.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)

The world of crime is a last refuge of the authentic, uncorrupted, spontaneous event.

Daniel J. Boorstin

American historian (1914-2004)