HomeSAL Quotable Quotes

Too many good students are getting shut out of the U.S. You don't get better P.R. from ads. You get it from bringing people into America or American libraries and letting them draw their own conclusions. Thomas L. Friedman

My guess is (it will be) about 300 years until computers are as good as, say, your local reference library in search. Craig Silverstein, director of technology, Google.com

Libraries promote the sharing of knowledge, connecting people of all ages with valuable information resources. These dynamic and modern institutions, and the librarians who staff them, add immeasurably to our quality of life. President George W. Bush

Libraries are community treasure chests, loaded with a wealth of information available to everyone equally, and the key to that treasure chest is the library card. I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card. First Lady Laura Bush

Children know that if they have a question about the world, the library is the place to find the answer. And someone will always be there to help them find the answer--our librarians. (A librarian's) job is an important one. Our nation runs on the fuel of information and imagination that libraries provide. And they are in charge of collecting and sharing this information in a helpful way. Librarians inform the public, and by doing so, they strengthen our great democracy.First Lady Laura Bush

I am here because libraries and museums are singular and important institutions with unique contributions to make to our nation. But more importantly, I am here as an advocate for children and families, for healthy communities, for economic development, for scholars and researchers, for individuals who seek educational and informational resources throughout their lives. Former U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services Director Robert Martin

One of the greatest gifts my brother and I received from my mother was her love of literature and language. With their boundless energy, libraries open the door to these worlds and so many others. I urge young and old alike to embrace all that libraries have to offer. Caroline Kennedy

My encouragement to you is to go tomorrow to the library. Poet Maya Angelou, during a speech to a college audience that encouraged students to read voraciously and never stop learning.

Those who declared librarians obsolete when the Internet rage first appeared are now red-faced. We need them more than ever. The Internet is full of 'stuff' but its value and readability is often questionable. 'Stuff' doesn't give you a competitive edge, high-quality related information does. Patricia Schroeder, Association of American Publishers President

I used to go to the library all the time when I was kid. As a teenager, I got a book on how to write jokes at the library, and that, in turn, launched my comedy career. Comedian Drew Carey.
Carey appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, where he announced that all of his winnings would go to Ohio public libraries. Carey donated nearly $600,000 to the Ohio Library Council.

I have a real soft spot in my heart for librarians and people who care about books. Ann Richards, former Governor of Texas

In hard times, libraries are more important than ever. Human beings need what books give them better than any other medium. Since ancient nights around prehistoric campfires, we have needed myth. And heroes. And moral tales. And information about the world beyond the nearest mountains or oceans.

Today, with books and movies more expensive than ever, and television entertainment in free fall to the lowest level of stupidity, free circulating books are an absolute necessity. They are quite simply another kind of food. We imagine, and the we live.

For those without money, the road to the treasure house of the imagination begins at the public library. Columnist Pete Hamill, New York Daily News

My childhood library was small enough not to be intimidating. And yet I felt the whole world was contained in those two rooms. I could walk any aisle and smell wisdom. U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove

Libraries are places where we writers go after we die, if we're lucky. We going to live on through libraries. But there is also something more. In addition to being a place that we go after we die, if we are lucky, libraries are also the place where a great many writers are born. Joe Klein, author of Primary Colors and The Running Mate

Being in the library is so addictive for me that I really have to exercise self-control so I can get some writing done at home. Janet Fitch, Author of White Oleander

The library ( in the migrant community) I grew up in was my only link to the outside world. Playwright and filmmaker Luis Valdez

When we build a public library, we don't have to pay to get in, but when we build a stadium, we have to pay the owner every time we go to a game. Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura

It was a great place to write a novel about book burning, in the library basement. Author Ray Bradbury on the writing of his classic novel Farenheit 451 over 50 years ago.

I would walk into the Carnegie Library and I would see the pictures of Booker T. and pictures of Frederick Douglass and I would read. I would go into the Savannah Public Libraries in the stacks and see all of the newspapers from all over the country. Did I dream that I would be on the Supreme Court? No. But I dreamt that there was a world out there that was worth pursuing. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

The public library is more than a repository of books. It's a mysterious, wonderous place with the power to change lives. Chicago Tribune literary editor Elizabeth Taylor

Many librarians perform their duties with a profound sense of responsibility: supporting the foundations of democracy by ensuring free access to information. New York Times reporter John Schwartz

Libraries are my passion in life. Before I became mayor (of Los Angeles), I used to sneak out here during lunch time...and I'd go to a corner and take a book--any book almost--and read it for a while, and then feel rejuvenated. Richard Riordan

But despite the meek, shush-shushing stereotype, librarians are largely a freedom-upholding, risk-taking group. In the name of the First Amendment and anti-censorship, they have championed the causes of provocative writers and spoken out against banned and challenged books. Writer Linton Weeks, Washington Post

It's an essential fight librarians are making, an age-old fight; yours is a battle for civilization. It's a fight for our country's founding values. Radio talk-show host Jim Hightower

Books and reading saved a very lonely childhood. At the library I found people who took interest in me. From books, I learned about people and compassion. Nancy Slonim Aronie, Author of Writing from the Heart

"You must live feverishly in a library. Colleges are not going to do any good unless you are raised and live in a library every day of your life. Author Ray Bradbury

Librarians. I give them all the credit in the book. The Mormon Family Library...was so generous and so kind to me. They are amazing... I would call them and say, 'Would you look up in the 1840 census the Henry family around Milton, Virginia?' And...they would... Librarians at Hunter College, the University of North Carolina library, and the Library of Congress as well.

Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who edited a manuscript he purchased entitled, The Bondswoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts, the first known novel written by an African-American woman who had been a slave.

As a child I was a very shy little blonde kid that didn't speak at all to anybody...And what was wonderful about the library was that you didn't have to say a word. So it was my oasis. And you didn't have to ask for things in full sentences. You could just point to a shelf and say, '18th century dolls,' and the librarians would lead you there. It was amazing. I felt like a queen. Adrienne Yorinks,