"A library is a hospital for the mind"

“A library is a hospital for the mind” is a saying that has been printed on many images. The library of the tomb complex of Ramses II (1279-1213 BC) at Thebes, Egypt, was inscribed with Psyches Iatreion (“Healing Place of the Soul”). The same inscription was used at the Royal Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt.

It is sometimes said—incorrectly—that the Thebes library inscription was “Medicine for the Soul,” and the Alexandria library inscription was “Hospital for the Mind.” This is from a speech given by Senator Ursula Stephens at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, on July 16, 2009:

“This has been the way since the times of the very first libraries when the words ‘Hospital for the Mind’ were inscribed on the library at Alexandria. And the words ‘Medicine for the Soul’ above the library at Thebes.”

“Quoting an inscription from the Library at Alexandria, Mr. MacNaughton called the Portland library a ‘hospital for the mind,” The Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR) reported on January 17, 1935. “Tom Poston saw this sign in a library: ‘Hospital for the Mind’” was printed in the Chicago (IL) Sunday Tribune on March 4, 1962.

“‘A library is a hospital for the mind. -Alvin Toffler” was posted on Twitter on July 6, 2013. American writer and futurist Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) did not coin the ancient Egyptian saying.

Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
The Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world.
(...)
According to popular description, an inscription above the shelves read: The place of the cure of the soul.

Google—Arts & Culture
Inscription Psyches Iatreion (Healing Place of the Soul)
Unknown 1802
From the collection of Monastery of St. John the Theologian, Patmos, Greece
The slab of marble which bears the inscription is embedded in the wall over the entrance to the Monastery’s Library. It was constructed and placed there in 1862, under the care of Ioannis Sakkelion. The exact position of the original inscription of Nikephoros of Laodicea is hard to determine.
The inscription goes millenniums back. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) reports that the phrase was inscribed on the entance of the sacred library of the tomb complex of Ramses II (1279-1213 BC) at Thebes (Diod.1.49.3). A similar one decorated the eminent library of Alexandria, the largest and most significant library of the ancient world.

The University of Rhode Island
The Library Inscriptions – Psyches
Over the inner entrance doors is a panel with the phrase
Ψ Υ Χ Η Σ Ι Α Τ Ρ Ε Ι Ο Ν
PSYCHES IATREION
[ Healing-Place of the Soul ]
The phrase was reported by Hecataeus of Abdera, a historian of the early third century B.C., to be an inscription on the sacred library of the tomb complex of Osymandyas (Ramses II), at Thebes.

17 January 1935, The Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR), “Banker Stresses Use of Library,” pg. 3, col. 3:
Quoting an inscription from the Library at Alexandria, Mr. MacNaughton called the Portland library a “hospital for the mind.”

31 October 1939, Manchester (UK) Guardian, “Reading in War-time” by G. J., pg. 4, col. 2:
“A Hospital for the Mind” was the inscription over the library of ancient Thebes, and there is still in good books healing and balm for souls that are sick and hurt.

27 May 1955, The Register (National Catholic Welfare Council, Washington, DC), pg. 6, col. 7:
A hospital for the mind. (Inscription found on the archway of an ancient library unearthed in Alexandria, Egypt.)

4 March 1962, Chicago (IL) Sunday Tribune, “Radio TV Gag Bag” culled by Larry Wolters, Magazine, pg. 37, col. 1:
Tom Poston saw this sign in a library: “Hospital for the Mind.”

19 June 1979, St. Petersburg (FL) Times, “Letters,” pg. 19A, col. 4:
Mankind has been taught that a library is a hospital for the mind, medicine for the soul, a diary of the human race.
(...)
J. Joseph Tansey
South Pasadena

5 April 1981, Sunday Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI), “Caretaker of our thoughts” by Mayor Dorothy Johnson, pg. D-3, col. 1:
It was this larger purpose no doubt that led library builders to chisel above doorways such inscriptions as “A hospital for the mind” or “Food for the soul.”

25 October 1997, Washington (DC) Post, “In His Own Words,” pg. H12, col. 5:
“Truly this place is, as was once said of the famous Library of Alexandria, a ‘hospital for the mind.’”
—Library of Congress dinner, hosted by Librarian of Congress James Billington

Google Groups: schl.sig.lmnet
Website with library quotes? LONG
Debra Logan
2/21/98
(...)
A library is a hospital for the mind.
Anonymous

Twitter
Emily
@em0082
Back at work for the week- already looking forward to the weekend!
“A library is a hospital for the mind.”
10:08 AM - 4 Jun 2007

Twitter
weeknit.etsy.com
@WeeKnit
A library is a hospital for the mind. ~ Anonymous http://tinyurl.com/detjuy
2:10 PM - 23 Mar 2009

Australian Government
Speech by Senator the Hon Ursula Stephens
ALIA Public Libraries Summit
16 July 2009
Location: National Library of Australia, Canberra
(...)
This has been the way since the times of the very first libraries when the words “Hospital for the Mind” were inscribed on the library at Alexandria. And the words ‘Medicine for the Soul’ above the library at Thebes.

Google Books
Public Speaking Handbook for Librarians and Information Professionals
By Sarah R. Statz
Jefferson, NC: McFarland
2012
Pg. 135:
However, in his section of library-related quotations, he includes an inscription found on a library at Alexandria, Egypt: “A hospital for the mind.” Sentiments like that never go out of style.

University of Arkansas—Research Frontiers
ΨΥΧΗΣ ΙΑΤΡΕΙΟΝ: Healing Place of the Soul
Posted by Barbara Jaquish | Oct 15, 2012 | Arts & Letters, Fall 2012
(...)
The public library was an appropriate place for thinking about such complex experiences. Inscribed over the door of the ancient library in Alexandria were the words ΨΥΧΗΣ ΙΑΤΡΕΙΟΝ or “Healing Place of the Soul.”

Twitter
Naomi McP
@N_McP
“A library is a hospital for the mind.” -Alvin Toffler
8:43 PM - 6 Jul 2013

Antiquitatem
Place of Care of the Soul: ψυχῆς ἰατρείον (psychés iatreíon)
Published 24 January 2014
Libraries are “points of care of the soul.” This is a curious phrase, full of content, and that we like. It is originated on the label that allegedly existed in the “Sacred Library” of the temple and tomb of Pharaoh Ramses. But perhaps what is really behind the famous phrase is a historical misunderstanding.

Facebook
Grammarly is with Amila Lasanthika and Sudeshna Pandey.
July 27, 2015 ·
“A library is a hospital for the mind.” — Anonymous

Google Books
Equity and Excellence in the Public Library:
Why Ignorance is Not our Heritage
By Bob Usherwood
New York, NY: Routledge
2016
Pg. 27:
In ancient Thebes the inscription over the library’s entrance read, ‘Medicine for the soul’; at Alexandria the medical imagery was maintained as the library proclaimed itself a ‘hospital for the mind’.

Twitter
Roger W. Davis 🌠#JoyfulLeaders
@rwdavis_edu
“A library is a hospital for the mind” ~ Alvin Toffler #Library #Learning #Mindset
5:02 PM - 4 May 2018

Twitter
John’s World 🌐
@LifeWithJohn
A library is a hospital for the mind. Anonymous #quote #books
2:59 PM - 11 Jun 2018