Melvil Dewey Quotes & Sayings

To my thinking, a great librarian must have a clear head, a strong hand, and, above all, a great heart. And when I look into the future, I am inclined to think that most of the men who achieve this greatness will be women. — Melvil Dewey

The eternal conflict of good and the best with bad and the worst is on. — Melvil Dewey

Reading is a mighty engine, beside which steam and electricity sink into insignificance. — Melvil Dewey

The librarian must be the librarian militant before he can be the librarian triumphant. — Melvil Dewey

The time was when a library was very like a museum and the librarian a mouser among dusty books. The time is when the library is a school and the librarian in the highest sense a teacher. — Melvil Dewey

A library's function is to give the public in the quickest and cheapest way: information, inspiration, and recreation. If a better way than the book can be found, we should use it. — Melvil Dewey