Words matter. These are the best Public Library Quotes from famous people such as Michael Dirda, Mark Ruffalo, Sarah Weinman, Amy Bloom, Matthew Reilly, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
When I was a boy in the late 1950s, the public library refused to stock books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. They were regarded as vulgar, ill-written potboilers.
I do readings at the public library. I just did a benefit scene night for my old acting teacher.
The Boston run of ‘Lolita, My Love’ ended after a mere nine performances – though one of them was recorded at decent enough quality to be preserved by the New York Public Library.
I was the kind of reader in smudged pink harlequin glasses sitting on the cool, dusty floor of the Arrandale public library, standing at the edge of the playground, having broken a tooth in dodge ball, and lying under my covers with a flashlight.
My first book, ‘Contest,’ had a guy fighting aliens in the New York Public Library. The second book, ‘Ice Station,’ and ‘Temple’ were present-day military thrillers.
For those without money, the road to that treasure house of the imagination begins at the public library.
The New York Public Library is a wonderful gem. I go there to get away from the bustle of the city. They have an incredible collection of menus from all over the city.
I remember being in the public library and my jaw just aching as I looked around at all those books I wanted to read. There just wasn’t time enough to read everything I wanted to read.
Those diplomas on my wall would not be there without the GI Bill that educated my father, without the public library, without the RIPTA bus.
But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library.
I moved to New York City in ’92 and had no money. I had a lot of free time, as actors do. I would go to the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center.
I worked in restaurants, and I worked in the Cambridge Public Library.
I was so naive about writing, I went to the public library and checked out the only volume they had on the topic – an academic treatise about publishing from the WWII era.
As a child, recognizing my difference from other kids, I went to the local public library to try to better understand my reality. Back then, many library card catalogues didn’t even list ‘homosexuality’ as a topic.
In America there is a public library in every community. How many public libraries are there in Africa? Every day there are new books coming out and new ideas being discussed. But these new books and ideas don’t reach Africa and we are being left behind.
If we can put a man on the moon and sequence the human genome, we should be able to devise something close to a universal digital public library.
We didn’t have a phone when I was a kid, and I was too shy to smash any public phones, and our town didn’t have a pool hall either, so I had to hang out at the public library – and anyway, I told myself stories.
For some 25 years, I worked as a librarian, first at the New York Public Library, then at Trenton State College in New Jersey. My life has always been with, around, and for books.
I’ve seen the most remarkable thing. It’s in the New York Public Library. They’ve got the original typescript of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ – all four acts of it.
I didn’t belong to the sort of family where the children’s classics were laid on. I went to the public library and read everything I could get my hands on.
Where I grew up, we had the three TV networks, maybe two radio stations, no cable TV. We still had a long-distance party line in our neighborhood, so you could listen to all your neighbors’ phone calls. We had a very small public library, and the nearest bookstore was an hour away.
Closing a public library is child abuse, really, because it hinders child development.
You go to your public library, or you call your fire department or police department, what do you think you are calling? These are socialist institutions.
You used to have to own a radio tower or television tower or printing press. Now all you have to have is access to an Internet cafe or a public library, and you can put your thoughts out in public.
Think of a public library, worth more for those who cannot afford numerous books. Think of a public waterway or fishing ground. All types of commons have imputed monetary value that together comprise a source of social income. As such, the commons reduces economic inequality and insecurity in society.
