Quotations About Literacy

"There are all kinds of things you can do to marry literacy with health."  -C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General

"If you want to work on the core problem, it's early school literacy."  -James Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape

"No skill is more crucial to the future of a child, or to a democratic and prosperous society, than literacy."  -Los Angeles Times, "A Child Literacy Initiative for the Greater Los Angeles Area"

"Literacy is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility. If our world is to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century we must harness the energy and creativity of all our citizens."   -President Clinton on International Literacy Day, September 8th, 1994

"Literacy arouses hopes, not only in society as a whole but also in the individual who is striving for fulfilment, happiness and personal benefit by learning how to read and write. Literacy...means far more than learning how to read and write...The aim is to transmit...knowledge and promote social participation."  -UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, Germany

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”  ―    Frederick Douglass

“There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book.”  ―    Frank Serafini

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.... Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”  ―    Kofi Annan

“Art is literacy of the heart.”  ―    Elliot Eisner

“When writing the constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, John Adams wrote: I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading.”  ―    John Adams

“Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain and if you don't believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it.”  ―    John Steinbeck

“They are a testament not only to the Afghans' hunger for literacy, but also to their willingness to pour scarce resources into this effort, even during a time of war.  I have seen children studying in classrooms set up inside animal sheds, windowless basements, garages, and even an abandoned public toilet.  We ourselves have run schools out of refugee tents, shipping containers, and the shells of bombed-out Soviet armored personnel carriers.  The thirst for education over there is limitless.  The Afghans want their children to go to school because literacy represents what neither we not anyone else has so far managed to offer them: hope, progress, and the possibility of controlling their own destiny.”  ―    Greg Mortenson,    Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan

“Literacy isn't just about reading, writing, and comprehension. It's about culture, professionalism, and social outlook.”  ―    Taylor Ellwood,    Pop Culture Magick

“With words at your disposal, you can see more clearly.  Finding the words is another step in learning to see.”  ―    Robin Kimmerer
Financial literacy is an issue that should command our attention because many Americans are not adequately organizing finances for their education, healthcare and retirement. Ron Lewis


If we talk about literacy, we have to talk about how to enhance our children's mastery over the tools needed to live intelligent, creative, and involved lives. Danny Glover



Parents should be encouraged to read to their children, and teachers should be equipped with all available techniques for teaching literacy, so the varying needs and capacities of individual kids can be taken into account. Hugh Mackay



To succeed, you will soon learn, as I did, the importance of a solid foundation in the basics of education - literacy, both verbal and numerical, and communication skills. Alan Greenspan



"Children not only have to learn what their parents learned in school, but also have to learn how to learn. This has to be recognized as a new problem which is only partly solved." -Margaret Mead (1901-1978) US famous anthropologist, author, environmentalist.




"The more you read, the more you know.
The more you know, the smarter you grow.
The smarter you grow, the stronger your voice,
when speaking your mind or making your choice."


-Seen at Sebastopol library


Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. -Emily Buchwald