The Librarian of Burned Books Quotes

“I can tell you that banning books, burning books, blocking books is often used as a way to erase people, a belief system, or culture.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“The men who sought violence didn't understand that while swords could destroy bodies, a pen could destroy a nation.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“Books are a way we leave a mark on the world, aren’t they? They say we were here, we loved and we grieved and we laughed and we made mistakes and we existed. They can be burned halfway across the world, but the words cannot be unread, the stories cannot be untold. They do live on in this library, but more importantly they are immortalized in anyone who has read them.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“There are moments in life when you have to put what is right over what party you vote for. And if you can’t recognize those moments when the stakes are low—let me assure you, you won’t recognize them when the stakes are high. Thank you.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“History is built on moments that feel insignificant,”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“Burning books about things you do not like or understand does not mean those things no longer exist.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night—there’s all heaven and earth in a book.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“can tell you that banning books, burning books, blocking books is often used as a way to erase a people, a belief system, a culture,” Hannah said. “To say these voices don’t belong here, even when those writers represent the very best of a country. “I can”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“p. 369
An attack on books, on rationality, on knowledge isn't a tempest in a teacup, but rather a canary dead in a coal mine.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“All Hitler had to do was make people afraid: There is a monster out there who will attack you if you don’t let me protect you.” “And if that requires sacrificing a few freedoms, then that’s the price for law and order, isn’t it?”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“The way to judge people wasn’t to look at how they acted toward people they wanted to impress; it was to look at the way they treated those who could do nothing for them.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night—there’s all heaven and earth in a book.’” It was as if someone had taken Viv’s life and bottled it into a simple quote.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“I can tell you that banning books, burning books, blocking books is often used as a way to erase a people, a belief system, a culture,” Hannah said. “To say these voices don’t belong here, even when those writers represent the very best of a country.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“If Althea had a church, it was within the covers of books; if she had a religion, it was in the words written there.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“I think sometimes people get so caught up in the literary prestige of a novel...the idea that reading should be fun is lost.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“p. 364
Do you want to be the ones handing out the gasoline cans? Or the ones trying to put out the fire?”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“War—and she had decided they were at war—had a way of stripping away all those small things and then amplifying what was left. There were no tiny irritations or minor celebrations. It was all love and hate, fear and courage, poetry and destruction, everything more intense because of the contrast, the middle ground no longer there.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“Hannah bicycled through the streets on the outskirts of the fourteenth arrondissement, her wide-legged black trousers flirting precariously with the spokes of the tires;”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“All Hitler had to do was make people afraid: There is a monster out there who will attack you if you don’t let me protect you.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“Nazis are portrayed in propaganda as ignorant anti-intellectuals. But the leaders know just how powerful knowledge is. That’s why they want to control it so strictly.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“Viv didn’t press and was rewarded for her patience when the woman continued. “Books are a way we leave a mark on the world, aren’t they? They say we were here, we loved and we grieved and we laughed and we made mistakes and we existed. They can be burned halfway across the world, but the words cannot be unread, the stories cannot be untold. They do live on in this library, but more importantly they are immortalized in anyone who has read them.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“The men who sought violence didn’t understand that while swords could destroy bodies, a pen could destroy a nation.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“Few people have to watch their country die,”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“I have had that dubious privilege, and I can tell you that it comes not as a rebel shout but as a sly whisper. The cracks creep in, insidious as anything I’ve ever seen. It can start with rumblings about an unreliable press and rumors about political enemies that will threaten your family, your children. It can deepen with each disdainful remark about science and art and literature in a pub on a Friday night. It comes cloaked in patriotism and love of country, and uses that as armor against any criticism.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“her chest had been hollowed out. But they were no closer to a good plan for overturning Taft’s censorship policy, either. “You know, I heard about a place the other day,” Harrison said, his vowels all relaxed now with the liquor. “Maybe it would be worth a visit. Though it is quite the haul to Brooklyn.” He reached into his pocket for a pen and notepad and scribbled out an address. “What’s in Brooklyn?” Viv asked, trying to peer over his shoulder. Harrison grinned as he slid her the paper. “Inspiration.” Weak tendrils of hope bloomed from the ash of her defeat”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“She was fairly certain that at least some number of Americans secretly agreed with the hateful speech the Nazis spewed.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“The moment the most educated country in the world willingly, joyously, wholeheartedly turned away from knowledge.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“We cannot stop individuals who read for the sole purpose of confirming their already closely held beliefs.” She enunciated each word, a delicate fist pounding on the podium. “But we can stop the dictators, the tyrants, the bullies who try to impose that method onto others. This may feel insignificant, this moment here, in this room, talking about a single amendment to a bill that was drafted with the best intentions. I can tell you, though, that history is built on moments that feel insignificant. We”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

“In 1928, my father, along with the rest of my country, was mocking Hitler. They saw him as a joke, someone who could be easily controlled, someone who would burn out after everyone heard his deranged spiels. Only a handful of years later, we had to flee Germany after my brother was dragged to a concentration camp, where he would be murdered for his beliefs.”
― Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books