Quick—what’s something famous that John Bartlett said? Nothing comes to mind, does it? You may even be thinking Wait, who’s John Bartlett? But if you had asked him (before he died in 1905) to name something famous that somebody else said, he would have been able to give you a book’s worth. Actually, he did:
..."quotation" is the noun.
So, in honor of what would have been John Bartlett’s 191st birthday tomorrow, what are some of your favorite quotations?
Here’s one of mine:
“And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.
So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.”
-Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
Finally, an interesting bit of trivia. Despite the popularity of the trend, John Bartlett’s gravestone actually bears no quotation:
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Jake Gauslow |
| Library Assistant | |
| jgauslow@friscotexas.gov |
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| Jake Gauslow |
| Adult Services Librarian | |
| jgauslow@friscotexas.gov |
