Benjamin Rush Quotes
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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. The Amor Patriae love of ones country is both a moral duty and a religious duty. It comprehends not only the love of our neighbors but of millions of our fellow creatures, not only of the present but of future generations. This virtue we find constitutes a part of the first characters of history.
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Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us.
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By withholding the knowledge of the Scriptures from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds.
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The first thing I would recommend to put a stop to slavery in this country, is to leave off importing slaves. For this purpose let our assemblies unite in petitioning the king and parliament to dissolve the African committee of merchants: It is by them that the trade is chiefly carried on to America.
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The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effective means of limiting Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools.
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Temperate, sincere, and intelligent inquiry and discussion are only to be dreaded by the advocates of error. The truth need not fear them...
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Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights.
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Were I disposed to consider the comparative merit of each of them facts or theories in medical practice, I should derive most of the evils of medicine from supposed facts, and ascribe all the remedies which have been uniformly and extensively useful, to such theories as are true. Facts are combined and rendered useful only by means of theories, and the more disposed men are to reason, the more minute and extensive they become in their observations.
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Let our pupil be taught that he does not belong to himself, but that he is public property ... He must be taught to amass wealth, but it must be only to increase his power of contributing to the wants and demands of the state... Education can be done effectually only by the interference and aid of the Legislature.
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It must afford no small pleasure to a benevolent mind in the midst of a war, which daily makes so much havoc with the human species, to reflect, that the small-pox which once proved equally fatal to thousands, has been checked in its career, and in a great degree subdued by the practice of Inoculation.
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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."
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Mirth, and even cheerfulness, when employed as remedies in low spirits, are like hot water to a frozen limb.
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The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
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If we were to remove the Bible from public schools we would be wasting so much time punishing crimes and taking so little pains to prevent them.
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...This large and expensive stock of drugs will be unnecessary. By...doses of...medicines...multiplying...combining them properly, 20 to 30 articles, aided by the common resources of the lancet, a garden, a kitchen, fresh air, cool water, exercise, will be sufficient to cure all the diseases that are at present under the power of medicine.
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Without the restraints of religion and social worship, men become savages much sooner than savages become civilized by means of religion and civil government.
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Mania's premonitory signs are unusual acts of extravagance, manifested by the purchase of houses, and certain expensive and unnecessary articles of furniture.
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I anticipate the Day when to command Respect in the remotest Regions it will be sufficient to say I am an American.
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Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.
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A pioneer is generally a man who has outlived his credit or fortune in the cultivated parts.
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Beer is a wholesome liquor.....it abounds with nourishment.
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We have not only multiplied diseases, but we have made them more fatal.
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I have always considered Christianity as the strong ground of republicanism.
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Let the children...be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.