476 Quotes About Libraries

LibrariesAreNeccessaryGardens,UnsurpassedAtGrowingExcitement

Now, public libraries are most admirable institutions, but they have one irritating custom. They want their books back.

You could never be certain what you would find in a book that had spent time with someone else.

I care about a lot of issues. I care about libraries, I care about healthcare, I care about homelessness and unemployment. I care about net neutrality and the steady erosion of our liberties both online and off. I care about the rich/poor divide and the rise of corporate business.

Choosing a new book was like looking for treasure.

I personally find that for domestic purposes, the Trivial Pursuit system works better than Dewey.

Once I've mastered the art of pretending that I don't care what other kids think of me, I start to pay attention in class, discovering that I love library research for history term papers about ancient lands. It feels like a form of time travel.

The acquisition of a book signalled not just the potential acquisition of knowledge but also something like the property rights to a piece of ground: the knowledge became a visitable place.

In the light of this reflection, the library seemed all the more disturbing to me. It was then the place of a long, centuries-old murmuring, an imperceptible dialogue between one parchment and another, a living thing, a receptacle of powers not to be ruled by a human mind, a treasure of secrets emanated by many minds, surviving the death of those who had produced them or had been their conveyors.