Relevance Crisis Quotes

Libraries are at a cultural crossroads. Some proffer that libraries as we know them may go away altogether, ironic victims of the information age where Google has subverted Dewey decimal and researchers can access anything on a handheld device. Who needs to venture deep into the stacks when answers are but a click away?

What keeps me awake at night is the issue of relevance of the United Nations.

The humanities have been forced to disguise, both from themselves and their students, why their subjects really matter, for the sake of attracting money and prestige in a world obsessed by the achievements of science.

I think that the church in America today is so obsessed with being practical, relevant, helpful, successful, and perhaps well-liked that it nearly mirrors the world itself. Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups.

The church must acclimate to a changing world, or she will destine herself to irrelevance or even extinction. ...One of those dramatic changes in our environment is the shift from words to images. To do church in a way that is entirely text driven is the kiss of death.

We've been so concerned about being cool, relevant, and fun that we have forgotten to be bread, light, and life to a hungry, dark, and dying world.

Rock and Roll is still asking people like me to live up to the old guard's concept of what success is but it doesn't mean anything.

The modern composer is a madman who persists in manufacturing an article which nobody wants.

People can say: Okay, it's not the old-fashioned traditional journalism that took place in the 'Houston Chronicle' in 1975 - it's different. But that's also why newspapers are having a hard time staying relevant, you know?

The New York Times is fighting desperately for its relevance and its financial survival. And it probably won't even be around in a few years, based on its financial outlook, which wouldn't be a bad thing, if you want to know the truth.

I'm not sure that I'm really relevant as a director anymore. Or as a writer, either, to tell you the truth.