But with the library, it's like catnip, I suppose: you begin to run in circles because there's so much to look at and read.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the overwhelming abundance of knowledge available in libraries, comparing it to the excitement and distraction of catnip for cats.
In this quote, Ray Bradbury expresses the idea that libraries, filled with countless books and resources, can captivate and distract readers in a way that makes them feel both excited and overwhelmed. Just like a cat drawn to catnip, a person can find themselves running in circles, fascinated by the infinite opportunities to explore and learn, highlighting the allure and richness of literature and knowledge.
In practice
This quote would be great to share during a library fundraiser event to highlight the importance of access to knowledge.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we canβt imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You donβt stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
He who refuses to learn deserves extinction.
Critical thinking is not something you do once with an issue and then drop it. It requires that we update our knowledge as new information comes in. Time spent evaluating claims is not just time well spent. It should be considered part of an implicit bargain we've all made.
The Indians seemed to be living in a place and in a way that was of immense importance to me. So I associate learning to read - English, oddly enough - with wanting to know about Indians. I'm still growing into it. I've never outgrown that.
Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.
It's not who you're going to sit beside at school that matters now: it's what resources will your school have.
If present trends continue, our country may soon find itself far behind many other nations in both science and technology nations where, if you inform strangers that you are a mathematician, they respond with admiration and not by telling you how much they hated math in school, and how they sure could use you to balance their checkbooks.
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