When the historian of the Twentieth Century shall have finished his narrative, and comes searching for the subtitle which shall best express the spirit of the period, we think it not at all unlikely that he may select “The Age of Advertising” for the purpose. – Printers’ Ink, 27 May 1915

We read advertisements to discover and enlarge our desires. We are always ready — even eager — to discover, from the announcement of a new product, what we have all along wanted without really knowing it. – Daniel J. Boorstin

As advertising blather becomes the nation’s normal idiom, language becomes printed noise. – George Will, quoted in Stephen Donadio, The New York Public Library: Book of Twe