Quotations about Library Cards
The three most important documents a free society gives are a birth certificate, a passport and a library card. ~E. L. Doctorow, 1994
The librarian now stepped up to me, and demanded whether I had a card of admission. At first I did not comprehend him, but I soon found that the library was a kind of literary "preserve," subject to game laws, and that no one must presume to hunt there without special license and permission. In a word, I stood convicted of being an arrant poacher, and was glad to make a precipitate retreat, lest I should have a whole pack of authors let loose upon me. ~Washington Irving, "The Art of Book Making," The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., 1819
We'd all be smarter if we used library cards as often as we do credit cards. ~Arnold H. Glasow (1905–1999)
Rather than buying books, a man might save himself hundreds of dollars, not to say thousands, with a subscriber's card to a circulating library, or if his city or town maintains a public library he may spare himself even that expense. ~John Kendrick Bangs, The Idiot at Home, 1900
A library card is good to have, you can never have too much ID. ~Stephen King, "Everything's Eventual," 1997, stephenking.com
A library card is the most important school supply of all. ~American Library Association, 1980s, ala.org
Having fun isn't hard
When you've got a library card.
~Joe Fallon and Ken Scarborough, "Library Card," Marc Brown's Arthur, "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival," 1998, pbskids.org/arthur
Youngsters need ready access to books... it is of critical importance that girls and boys acquire the habit of reading. School libraries should find children reading biographies and histories and novels and science fiction — not simply looking for a fugitive fact or random quotation. The librarian should be an integral part of the instructional staff... And children should belong to the public library. There is one within striking distance of practically everybody. Let's have a national campaign: By the end of the 1986–87 school year, every child should obtain a library card — and use it. ~William J. Bennett, U.S. Secretary of Education, First Lessons: A Report on Elementary Education in America, 1986
As soon as she can write her name, get her a library card. ~Erma Bombeck and Billings S. Fuess, Jr., "How to encourage your child to read," 1984, from Power of the Printed Word advertising campaign by Ogilvy & Mather for International Paper Company, ogilvy.com, internationalpaper.com, ermabombeckcollection.com
Two most important things in a writer's wallet: library card and poetic license. ~Terri Guillemets
Every application for registration shall contain the full name and address of the applicant, the grounds for registration, and an agreement to obey and be bound by the rules of the Library. As soon as the registration clerk upon examination is satisfied that any applicant is entitled to registration he shall be registered and shall receive a Library Card, good for two years. In order to borrow a book, the Library Card must be presented to the attendant in charge, together with a Call-slip on which is written the number of the book desired. A Library Card shall ordinarily entitle the holder to have but two books out of the Library at the same time borrowed for home use. No work of fiction or book for the young, published within one year shall be retained by the borrower for more than seven days, and no other book for more than fourteen days. No extension of time will be granted. Any officer, in his discretion, may refuse to issue to a person under the age of twenty-one years, books of a character not suited for circulation among youth. Any person who detains a volume beyond the time for which it is lent shall pay a fine of two cents for each and every day of such detention, and three cents for each notice of such sent by post. For every two weeks, such person shall pay an additional fine of twenty-five cents. ~Rules and Regulations of the Public Library of the City of Boston, October 1896 [Paraphrased. This is the first instance I've been able to find of a publication referencing the term "library card" in the context of a membership card. Other terms used were subscription card, library pass, borrower's card, etc.
Look! A library card! I've taken out a library card! I have been given my citizenship in the Land of Knowledge! ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts, 1960 April 4, peanuts.com [Linus]
With a library card you can book a trip around the world and beyond without ever leaving home. ~Terri Guillemets, "Pages of life," 2003
A picture's worth a thousand words? A library card's worth millions. ~Roy Blount Jr., as quoted by The New York Public Library, 2012, nypl.org, royblountjr.com
Ever since we had arrived in the United States, my classmates kept asking me about magic carpets. "They don't exist," I always said. I was wrong. Magic carpets do exist, but they are called library cards. ~Firoozeh Dumas, Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad, 2008, firoozehdumas.com
Being the evil Undead wasn't fun anymore. For one thing, was increasingly hard to get a library card. ~Sharon Ashwood, Ravenous: The Dark Forgotten, 2009
the miracle of a library card
to study, oh, you know,
fill in the blank — anything
~Terri Guillemets, "Endless knowledge," 2016, blackout poetry created from Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, 1996
She claimed my face was so easy to read that it could have a library card. ~V.C. Andrews, Delia's Gift, 2009
When I was young we couldn't afford much but my library card was my key to the world. Have fun. Read! ~John Goodman, autographed photo contributed to the American Library Association for its Libraries Change Lives campaign, 1995, ala.org
Is the picture window in your wallet being used to display a library card, while your driver's license stays tucked away in a pocket of lesser importance? ~GoComics.com, "A Uniquely Portable Magic," 2015
Linus: Just think, Charlie Brown… my own library card!
Charlie Brown: I hope you make good use of it by taking out all the books you can read.
Linus: I suppose that would be more practical... I was thinking of having it framed!
~Charles Schulz, Peanuts, 1960 April 6, peanuts.com
Walking down the third aisle of the stack beneath tin-shaded lightbulbs, smelling the familiar library scents of must and dust and cinnamony, aging paper, he thought: When I die, I guess I'll go with a library card in one hand and an OVERDUE stamp in the other. Well, maybe there's worse ways. ~Stephen King, It, 1986, stephenking.com
Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives… and to the "good life," whatever it is and wherever it happens to be. Let us strip to the ankles and revel in everything sensual: let us laugh at the world as it looks at itself through mushroom-cloudy glasses. ~Hunter S. Thompson, letter to Sally Williams, 1958
Just because the [f*@%ᖇ]'s got a library card doesn't make him Yoda. ~Se7en, movie, 1995, written by Andrew Kevin Walker