enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body & mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

if a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was & never will be. the functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty & property of their constituents. there is no safe deposit for these but with the...

and Botany I rank with the most valuable sciences, whether we consider it’s subjects as furnishing the principal subsistence of life to man & beast, delicious varieties for our tables, refreshments from our orchards, the adornments of our flower-borders, shade and perfume of our groves,...

for the present we may groupe the sciences into Professorships as follows, subject however to be changed according to the qualifications of the persons we may be able to engage.

The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility: and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows.

no one more sincerely wishes the spread of information among mankind than I do, and none has greater confidence in it’s effect towards supporting free & good government.

I endeavor to keep their attention fixed on the main objects of all science, the freedom & happiness of man.

letters are not the first, but the last step in the progression from barbarism to civilisation.

the field of knolege is the common property of all mankind

I join you therefore in branding as cowardly the idea that the human mind is incapable of further advances.