Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

When we pick up the newspaper at breakfast, we expect - we even demand - that it brings us momentous events since the night before...We expect our two-week vacations to be romantic, exotic, cheap, and effortless..We expect anything and everything. We expect the contradictory and the impossible. We expect compact cars which are spacious; luxurious cars which are economical. We expect to be rich and charitable, powerful and merciful, active and reflective, kind and competitive. We expect to be inspired by mediocre appeals for excellence, to be made literate by illiterate appeals for literacy...to go to 'a church of our choice' and yet feel its guiding power over us, to revere God and to be God. Never have people been more the masters of their environment. Yet never has a people felt more deceived and disappointed. For never has a people expected so much more than the world could offer.

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

Best-sellerism is the star system of the book world. A (best-seller) is a celebrity among books. It is a book known primarily (sometimes exclusively) for its well-knownness.

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

A celebrity is a person known for his well-knownness. Celebrities intensify their celebrity images simply by being well known for relations among themselves. By a kind of symbiosis celebrities live off each other.

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities.

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin

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

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

~ 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

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

~ Daniel J. Boorstin