Daniel J. Boorstin Quotes

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge."
-Daniel J. Boorstin in Discovery 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 tortur."
-Daniel J. Boorstin in Ignorance quotes.

"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."
-Daniel J. Boorstin

"I write to discover what I think. After all, the bars aren't open that early."
-Daniel J. Boorstin in Writing quotes.

"More appealing than knowledge itself is the feeling of 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 in Travel quotes.

"Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety."
-Daniel J. Boorstin

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers."
-Daniel J. Boorstin

"Nothing is really real unless it happens on television."
-Daniel J. Boorstin in Television quotes.

"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 in Reading quotes.