The library is not only a diary of the human race, but marks an act of faith in the continuity of humanity.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the importance of libraries as repositories of human history and knowledge, reflecting our collective faith in humanity's survival and progress.
Vartan Gregorian's quote emphasizes the dual role of libraries as both chroniclers of human experiences and as symbols of hope for the future. By preserving our stories, libraries affirm our existence and continuity as a species, showcasing humanity's journey through time and reinforcing the belief that we will continue to evolve and thrive.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of education, one might quote this to advocate for funding libraries.
That is the future, and it is probably nearer than we think. But our primary problem as universities is not engineering that future. We must rise above the obsession with quantity of information and speed of transmission, and recognize that the key issue for us is our ability to organize this information once it has been amassed - to assimilate it, find meaning in it, and assure its survival for use by generations to come.
The only condition a library asks its users to honor is to do justice to their own imagination, their own curiosity and their own thirst for knowledge, and in the process, to achieve their own independence of mind and spirit.
Journalism is what we need to make democracy work.
The trouble is not that schools don't work; they do. They're excellent machines for achieving historically accepted purposes. In suburban schools are children of the rich, who grow up to privilege and anesthetic oblivion to pain - and who then use the servants produced by ghetto schools.
Books and all forms of writing have always been objects of terror to those who seek to suppress the truth.
This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future.
The most important aspect of freedom of speech is freedom to learn. All education is a continuous dialogue - questions and answers that pursue every problem on the horizon. That is the essence of academic freedom.
This book of Montaigne the world has endorsed by translating it into all tongues.
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