WIST

Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
“A Case of Hypochondria,” Newsweek (6 Jul 1970)

We easily forget that smog is the price of freedom of our streets from manure, and from the flies and diseases it brought.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
(Attributed)

The hero is known for achievements; the celebrity for well-knownness. The hero reveals the possibilities of human nature. The celebrity reveals the possibilities of the press and media. Celebrities are people who make news, but heroes are people who make history. Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
Parade Magazine, “Who Are Our Heroes?” (by Ponchitta Pierce) (6 Aug. 1995)

The image is made to order, tailored to us. An ideal, on the other hand, has a claim on us. It does not serve us; we serve it. If we have trouble striving toward it, we assume the matter is with us, and not with the ideal.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, 5.2 (1961)

A hero is made by folklore, sacred texts, and history books, but the celebrity is the creature of gossip, of public opinion, of magazines, newspapers, and the ephemeral images of movie and television screen. The passage of time, which creates and establishes the hero, destroys the celebrity. One is made, the other unmade, by repetition. The celebrity is born in the daily papers and never loses the mark of his fleeting origin.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, 5.4 (1961)

The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
The Image, ch. 2, “From Hero to Celebrity: The Human Pseudo-event” (1961)

Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
The Image, ch. 2, “From Hero to Celebrity: The Human Pseudo-event” (1961)

I write to discover what I think.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
Wall St. Journal (31 Dec. 1985)

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance — it is the illusion of knowledge.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
Washington Post, “The Six O’Clock Scholar” by Carol Krucoff (29 Jan. 1984)

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance — it is the illusion of knowledge.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
In Carol Krucoff, “The 6 O’Clock Scholar,” Washington Post (29 Jan 1984)
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