John Cotton Dana

“ So with our reading habits; a taste for good reading once acquired becomes a joy forever.
Teachers do not realize, as does the librarian, the low tone of the reading taste of the community. When they fully understand this, together with the fact that the acquirement of a reading habit and a love for good literature are largely dependent, in a majority of cases, upon the public school training, then will the librarian have to bestir himself to supply the demand for good books made by the school. ”

“ A generation will grow up trained to associate the library and the school as instrumentalities of public education, demanding alike its moral and financial support, a generation that in town meetings and in city councils will advocate generous appropriations for the public library as well as for the public school. ”

“ There is little danger of backsliding. It grows with indulgence. One writer says: No man having once tasted good food or good wine, or even good tobacco, ever voluntarily turns to an inferior article. ”