Kate Williams Quotes

The habit of collecting, of attachment to things, is an essential human trait. But Western civilization put collecting on a pedestal by inventing museums. Museums are about representing power. It could be the king's power or, later, people's power.

People come to museums for storytelling and engagement, and the technology needs to facilitate that.

I would like to bring people who have never been to a museum into a museum. And I would like to bring museum goers into libraries. I think there ought to be this cross-fertilization.

In museums and palaces we are alternate radicals and conservatives.

Most museums in Moscow, like Tretyakov, were established by philanthropists, whose passion for art allowed the development of culture on many levels.

Of course there should be training sessions open to the public, but not always.

We must do our best to raise the public awareness of the past in all its richness and complexity.

Libraries and museums are the DNA of our culture.

Some of our greatest historical and artistic treasures we place in museums; others, we take for walks.

Back when people couldn't read, other people would take newspapers and turn them into theater so that people would know what was going on in the world. That is a powerful thing.

Museums are good things, places to look and absorb and learn.

I find a tremendous receptivity among the public for the subject matter of, 'Where did we come from and how did we get here?' People are thirsty and hungry for information on our origins. I feel a responsibility as a major figure in the area... to convey to the public the knowledge of human origins in a way that is understandable to them.

A collection that embraces the whole world allows you to consider the whole world. That is what an institution such as the British Museum is for.

In an era ruled by materialism and unstable geopolitics, art must be restored to the center of public education.

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.

When you learn something from people, or from a culture, you accept it as a gift, and it is your lifelong commitment to preserve it and build on it.

I like reading about the past. I'm definitely not a history buff, but I do read a bit of history now and again, and to do that for work is really exciting.

I hope the Guggenheim plan will be revived.

Museums are tombs, and it looks like everything is turning into a museum.

I think everything belongs in a certain place, for kids who feel they don't belong anywhere. A museum is an institution like a library where everything has a place, everything belongs.

Museums, I love museums.

A little part of my life is built around ancient art.

The museums and parks are graveyards above the ground- congealed memories of the past that act as a pretext for reality.

I'm grateful that I've enjoyed the support of libraries, bookshops and institutional funders.

The health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture, and our concern for the future can be tested by how well we support out libraries.