Daniel J. Boorstin
Daniel J. Boorstin
Daniel Joseph Boorstinwas an American historian at the University of Chicago, writing on many topics in American history and world history. He was appointed twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in 1975 and served until 1987. He was instrumental in the creation of the Library of Congress Center for the Book...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth1 October 1914
CountryUnited States of America
success
There is no disinfectant like success.
travel real believe
The modern American tourist now fills his experience with pseudo-events. He has come to expect both more strangeness and more familiarity than the world naturally offers. He has come to believe that he can have a lifetime of adventure in two weeks and all the thrills of risking his life without any real risk at all.
wisdom reading creativity
Our American past always speaks to us with two voices: the voice of the past, and the voice of the present. We are always asking two quite different questions. Historians reading the words of John Winthrop usually ask, What did they mean to him? Citizens ask, What do they mean to us? Historians are trained to seek the original meaning; all of us want to know the present meaning.
creation easy destruction
destruction is easy for humans but creation is too difficult.
pride government cities
While the focus in the landscape of Old World cities was commonly government structures, churches, or the residences of rulers, the landscape and the skyline of American cities have boasted their hotels, department stores, office buildings, apartments, and skyscrapers. In this grandeur, Americans have expressed their Booster Pride, their hopes for visitors and new settlers, and customers, for thriving commerce and industry.
way problem
The problem for us is less to discover the way it really is than to see the meaning of the way.
hero media
The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media.
worn-it effort ruts
Where ruts have not yet been worn, it requires less effort to stay out of them.
debate produce dissent
Disagreement produces debate but dissent produces dissension.
promise important lessons
The most important lesson of American history is the promise of the unexpected. None of our ancestors would have imagined settling way over here on this unknown continent. So we must continue to have society that is hospitable to the unexpected, which allows possibilities to develop beyond our own imaginings.
thinking mind vagrants
The mind is a vagrant thing.... Thinking is not analogous to a person working in a laboratory who invents something on company time.
civilization might naive
American civilization, from its beginnings, had combined a dogmatic confidence in the future with a naive puzzlement over what the future might bring.
hero men names
The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name.
hero names achievement
The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his name or trademark.