Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes

A collection of quotes by Daniel J. Boorstin.

Daniel J. Boorstin was an American historian, professor, and author who made significant contributions to the field of American history and culture. Born on October 1, 1914, in Atlanta, Georgia, Boorstin attended Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.

Known for his extensive research and engaging writing style, Boorstin authored numerous books, including "The Americans: The Colonial Experience," "The Americans: The National Experience," and "The Americans: The Democratic Experience." These works provided detailed accounts of American history, exploring the social, intellectual, and cultural aspects of the nation's development. Boorstin's writings were praised for their accessibility, appealing to both scholars and the general public.

Boorstin also held influential positions in academia and public service. He taught at the University of Chicago, where he established the Department of American Studies, and later served as the Librarian of Congress from 1975 to 1987. During his tenure, Boorstin modernized the library and expanded its reach to broader audiences.

Throughout his career, Daniel J. Boorstin was recognized for his intellectual prowess and dedication to preserving and promoting knowledge of American history. He received several awards and honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for History, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Boorstin's contributions have left a lasting impact on the study of American history and have helped shape public understanding of the nation's past. He died on February 28, 2004, leaving behind a rich legacy.

The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity

The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his image or trademark. The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name.

Daniel J. Boorstin

A sign of celebrity is that his name is often worth more tha

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

The history of Western science confirms the aphorism that th

The history of Western science confirms the aphorism that the great menace to progress is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge.

Daniel J. Boorstin

Science History Progress

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire p

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resourc

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

In our world of big names, our true heroes tend to be anonym

In our world of big names, our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knowness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs.

Daniel J. Boorstin

The force of the advertising word and image dwarfs the power

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer sc

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

Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't k

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

Daniel J. Boorstin

America has been a land of dreams. A land where the aspirati

America has been a land of dreams. A land where the aspirations of people from countries cluttered with rich, cumbersome, aristocratic, ideological pasts can reach for what once seemed unattainable. Here they have tried to make dreams come true. Yet now... we are threatened by a new and particularly American menace. It is not the menace of class war, of ideology, of poverty, of disease, of illiteracy, or demagoguery, or of tyranny, though these now plague most of the world. It is the menace of unreality.

Daniel J. Boorstin

It is only a short step from exaggerating what we can find i

It is only a short step from exaggerating what we can find in the world to exaggerating our power to remake the world. Expecting more novelty than there is, more greatness than there is, and more strangeness than there is, we imagine ourselves masters of a plastic universe. But a world we can shape to our will is a shapeless world.

Daniel J. Boorstin

The American experience stirred mankind from discovery to ex

The American experience stirred mankind from discovery to exploration. From the cautious quest for what they knew (or thought they knew) was out there, into an enthusiastic reaching to the unknown. These are two substantially different kinds of human enterprise.

Daniel J. Boorstin

We read advertisements to discover and enlarge our desires.

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

The traveler was active he went strenuously in search of peo

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

I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ig

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.

Daniel J. Boorstin

An image is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an

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

Our attitude toward our own culture has recently been charac

Our attitude toward our own culture has recently been characterized by two qualities, braggadocio and petulance. Braggadocio -- empty boasting of American power, American virtue, American know-how -- has dominated our foreign relations now for some decades. Here at home -- within the family, so to speak -- our attitude to our culture expresses a superficially different spirit, the spirit of petulance. Never before, perhaps, has a culture been so fragmented into groups, each full of its own virtue, each annoyed and irritated at the others.

Daniel J. Boorstin

The world of crime is a last refuge of the authentic, uncorr

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

Daniel J. Boorstin