Tips & more 50 thought-provoking quotes about libraries and librarians

Piotr Kowalczyk ⋮ Updated on February 26, 2020 February 26, 2020

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Best quotes about librarians, libraries, and librarianship – in one handy list

You’ll find below a selection of quotes devoted to places and people deserving the most attention: libraries and librarians.

Libraries are essential in a process of giving citizens access to knowledge. In digital times they are needed more than ever before.

Get your library card, and you’ll be able to borrow a print or electronic book, use free internet, or attend a course that will improve your digital skills.

Most importantly, however, libraries are the places where you can expect smart and clear answers to even most difficult questions.

Neil Gaiman perfectly describes what’s happening in digital times: “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.”

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In times of the internet, everyone can visit a library without leaving home. It’s just a matter of opening a library website, and you can not only borrow an ebook but also ask the librarian an online question.

Where are you heading with your life? Each direction is good if there is a library along the way.

Please share the library quotes that are still missing. We’d be more than happy to add them. You can use the comments section below, or reach us on social media. Thanks!

50 best quotes about libraries and librarians

1

When in doubt go to the library. – J.K. Rowling

One of the most famous quotes by J.K. Rowling in one of the most stunning visualizations – obviously by Risa Rodil. You can get this particular design from Redbubble, placed on many items, including wall art, apparel, iPad cases, mugs, tote bags, and even duvet covers!

⇢ Redbubble

2

Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities. – R. David Lankes

3

An original idea. That can’t be too hard. The library must be full of them. – Stephen Fry

4

To build up a library is to create a life. It’s never just a random collection of books. – Carlos María Domínguez

5

When I got my library card, that’s when my life began. – Rita Mae Brown

6

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future. – Ray Bradbury

7

The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library. – Albert Einstein

Adorably illustrated by Simini Blocker, the quote by Albert Einstein would make a great welcome poster in every library!

⇢ Inprnt

8

Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries. – Anne Herbert

9

The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community. – Paula Poundstone

10

When you absolutely positively have to know, ask a librarian. – American Library Association

11

The most important asset of any library goes home at night – the library staff. – Timothy Healy

12

In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with floaties and teach us to swim. – Linton Weeks

13

People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned. – Saul Bellow

14

The library card is a passport to wonders and miracles, glimpses into other lives, religions, experiences, the hopes and dreams and strivings of ALL human beings, and it is this passport that opens our eyes and hearts to the world beyond our front doors, that is one of our best hopes against tyranny, xenophobia, hopelessness, despair, anarchy, and ignorance. – Libba Bray

15

I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card. – Laura Bush

16

I’m really a library man, or second-hand book man. – John le Carre

17

Libraries were full of ideas – perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons. – Sarah J. Maas

A quote by the NYT bestselling author Sarah J. Maas is available on almost 50 items, including home decor, stationery, cases and skins for phones and tablets, or clothes.

⇢ Redbubble

Recommendation box Best Kindle cases and accessories in 2020 Based on recommendations from top tech sites and customer reviews. • • • Personalized Kindle cases – 80 variants to choose from You won’t find these beautiful cases on Amazon. Created by Papertify, they are available in 80 designer variants for every mood and taste! Some cases can be personalized by adding custom text. Available for Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle Oasis. Average rating: 4.7/5 Etsy • • • Senso waterproof Bluetooth earphones Comfortable and secure, these earphones feature IPX-7 waterproof rating. Improved battery lets you listen to audiobooks for up to 8 hours. Compatible with the latest basic Kindle, Paperwhite 4, and Oasis 3. Average rating: 4.2/5 Amazon • • • Foldable solar 25,000 mAh dual-USB power bank Make your Kindle 100% eco-friendly with this power bank which can absorb a few times more solar energy than ordinary solar charger. This power bank from AddTop is perfect for outdoor activities – it’s waterproof and comes with a handy camping LED light. Average rating: 4.4/5 Amazon

18

A library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life. – Norman Cousins

19

I ransack public libraries, and find them full of sunk treasure. – Virginia Woolf

20

Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life. – Sidney Sheldon

21

If I was a book, I would like to be a library book, so I would be taken home by all different sorts of kids. – Cornelia Funke

22

Libraries always remind me that there are good things in this world. – Lauren Ward

This wonderful quote comes from Lauren Ward and is visualized beautifully by herself.

⇢ Society 6

23

Cutting libraries during a recession is like cutting hospitals during a plague. – Eleanor Crumblehulme

24

If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library. – Frank Zappa

25

Shout for libraries. Shout for the young readers who use them. – Patrick Ness

26

Librarians are almost always very helpful and often almost absurdly knowledgeable. Their skills are probably very underestimated and largely underemployed. – Charles Medawar

27

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library? – Lily Tomlin

28

With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one – but no one at all – can tell you what to read and when and how. – Doris Lessing

29

A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone. – Jo Godwin

Good folks from Bookish Birds offer this bold quote from Jo Godwin placed on a page from a dictionary that was destined for the trash bin. A perfect gift for a library lover in your life!

⇢ Etsy

30

A library book, I imagine, is a happy book. – Cornelia Funke

31

Libraries raised me. – Ray Bradbury

32

Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library. – Henri Frederic Amiel

33

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. – Peter Singer

34

Librarians are tour-guides for all of knowledge. – Patrick Ness

35

Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open. – Laura Bush

36

A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them. – Lemony Snicket

37

Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one. – Neil Gaiman

38

You want weapons? We’re in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself! – Russell T. Davies (Doctor Who)

From Aenaon Art Work comes a typographic poster with a famous quote from Doctor Who TV series: season 2, episode 2 – “Tooth and Claw”.

⇢ Etsy

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39

A great library is one nobody notices because it is always there, and always has what people need. – Vicki Myron

40

Being a writer in a library is rather like being a eunuch in a harem. – John Braine

41

Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest. – Lady Bird Johnson

42

Librarians have always been among the most thoughtful and helpful people. They are teachers without a classroom. – Willard Scott

43

My two favorite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. – Peter Golkin

44

A library is a place where you can lose your innocence without losing your virginity. – Germaine Greer

45

Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark… In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed. – Germaine Greer

46

Nothing is pleasanter than exploring a library. – Walter Savage Landor

47

Libraries are our friends. – Neil Gaiman

48

Rule number one: Don’t fuck with librarians. – Neil Gaiman

49

Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card. – Marc Brown

Stylish design by Joseph Wang is available in a few colors, and you can get in on a woman’s or man’s t-shirt.

⇢ Redbubble

50

Librarians are the secret masters of the world. They control information. Don’t ever piss one off. – Spider Robinson

51

What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it feels about education. – Harold Howe

52

A library is a place where you learn what teachers were afraid to teach you. – Alan M. Dershowitz

53

A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library. – Shelby Foote

54

When the going gets tough, the tough get a librarian. – Joan Bauer

55

Librarian is a service occupation. Gas station attendant of the mind. – Richard Powers

56

The love of libraries, like most loves, must be learned. – Alberto Manguel

57

What is more important in a library than anything else – than everything else – is the fact that it exists. – Archibald MacLeish

58

Libraries are the future of reading. – Courtney Milan

59

When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself. – Isaac Asimov

60

A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life. – Henry Ward Beecher

Another great library poster from Bookish Birds, with the hand-lettered quote by Henry Ward Beecher.

⇢ Etsy

• • •

Where to buy library quote posters?

Do you think any of the above quotes would be perfect for the classroom or library? There are many sites where you can order your favorite quote printed on a poster, mug, t-shirt, and tons of other products.

Below, we list the sites that offer high-quality library quote designs on a large selection of items.

Etsy – it’s the top destination for anyone who wants to express the love for books and libraries. The largest marketplace with hand-crafted goods offers thousands of literary quotes – on posters, jewelry, personal items, electronic accessories, and clothes.

Redbubble – a marketplace for custom-designed items, including prints, stationery, cases & covers, or t-shirts. Opposite to other sites, such as CafePress, the quality of artwork is very high.

Zazzle – the site offers a huge variety of merchandise, from clothing, to home decor, to personal accessories. What’s more, users can upload their image and create a personal design. You can order your own library quote here!

Amazon Handmade – if you don’t want to sign up to other online stores, you can start exploring Amazon’s own section with hand-crafted items. It’s quickly growing, and you’ll find here posters, home decor, and stationery.

• • •

Recommendation box Best gifts to give book lovers in 2020 Based on ratings and reviews from top online stores. • • • Booklover’s wine glass The 17 oz stemless wine glass features a hand-engraved text “When I think about books, I touch my shelf.” The glass is dishwasher safe and comes in individual box to ensure safe delivery. Average rating: 4.9/5 Amazon • • • Sleep mask and headphones in one – perfect for audiobooks The eye mask adopts 3D ergonomic technology to block out 100% of external light and features ultra-thin Bluetooth speakers with 8-hour playtime! Average rating: 4.3/5 Amazon • • • Sofa and bed organizer – perfect for books and e-readers This updated bedside and sofa storage caddy is made of premium felt and can hold heaver things than ever before. It features four large pockets and 2 holes for charging cables. Average rating: 4.4/5 Amazon

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