“Upon my return from the army to Baltimore in the winter of 1777,
I sat next to John Adams in Congress, and upon my whispering to
him and asking him if he thought we should succeed in our struggle
with Great Britain, he answered me, “Yes-if we fear God and repent
of our sins.”
“Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for
the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families.”
“Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men
are incapable of knowing their rights.”
“Without Virtue there can be no liberty.”
“There is but one method of rendering a republican form of government
durable, and that is by disseminating the seeds of virtue and knowledge through
every part of the state by means of proper places and modes of education and this
can be done effectively only by the aid of the legislature.”
— Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)