Top 28 Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes (HISTORIAN)

Top 12 Most Famous Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes

“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

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. — The greatest enemy of **knowledge** is not ignorance, it is the illusion of **knowledge**.

Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities. — **Time** makes heroes but dissolves celebrities.

Celebrities are people who make news, but heroes are people who make history.

We must abandon the prevalent belief in the superior wisdom of the ignorant. — We must abandon the prevalent belief in the superior **wisdom** of the ignorant.

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

Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know. — **Education** is **learning** what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.

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

The greatest obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the oceans was not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge. — The greatest obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the oceans was not ignorance but the illusion of **knowledge**.

We have become so accustomed to our illusions that we mistake them for reality.

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

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

16 Inspirational and Thought-provoking Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes

“I beg this committee to recognize that knowledge is not simply another commodity. On the contrary. Knowledge is never used up, it increases by diffusion, and grows by dispersion. Knowledge and information cannot be quantitatively assessed, as a percentage of the G.N.P. Any willful cut in our resources of knowledge is an act of self-destruction.”
Daniel J. Boorstin

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

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. — 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.

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

The hero reveals the possibilities of human nature; the celebrity reveals the possibilities of the media. — The hero reveals the possibilities of human **nature**; the celebrity reveals the possibilities of the media.

“The American citizen lives in a world where fantasy is more real than reality, where the image has more dignity than its original. We hardly dare face our bewilderment, because our ambiguous experience is so pleasantly irridescent, and the solace of belief in contrived reality is so thoroughly real. We have become eager accessories to the great hoaxes of the age. These are the hoaxes we play on ourselves.”
Daniel J. Boorstin

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

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

Planning for the future without a sense of history is like planting cut flowers. — Planning for the **future** without a sense of history is like planting cut flowers.

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.

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

There is no disinfectant like success. — There is no disinfectant like **success**.

What an amateur is, is a lover of a subject. I’m a lover of facts. The fact is the savior, as long as you don’t jam it into some preconceived pattern.

The most promising words ever written on the maps of human knowledge are terra incognita—unknown territory. — The most promising words ever written on the maps of human **knowledge** are terra incognita—unknown territory.

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

“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

Daniel Boorstin Short Biography

Born 1 October 1914, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, Daniel Joseph Boorstin was an American historian and the 12^th Librarian of Congress.

Boorstin graduated from Harvard Law in 1937 as summa cum laude. In 1936 and 1937, he earned two law degrees from the University of Oxford and went on to finish his Doctorate of Juridical Science from Yale University in 1940.

He became a teacher and taught history at the University of Chicago for 25 years, from 1944-1969.

While teaching, he wrote several books, two of them being 2 volumes of The Americans.

In 1973, Boorstin became the director and senior historian of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of History and Technology.

Boorstin became the 12^th Librarian of Congress in 1975 and was instrumental in many projects that he would oversee, one of those being the American Folklife Center.

Daniel Boorstin retired in 1987 and devoted his time to writing. He wrote 22 books and won a Pulitzer Prize for The Americans: The Democratic Experience in 1974.

Top 12 Most Famous Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes

16 Inspirational and Thought-provoking Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes

Daniel Boorstin Short Biography

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