Benjamin Franklin Quotes
Libraries have improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have contributed, in some degree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their privileges.
Franklin set up the first lending library in America, and contrivuted funds to libraries many times in his life. He made his living as a publisher, and whereas libraries reduce the number of copies sold, pubishers tended to not be very enthusiastic about lending libraries. Franklin, as in so many things, was the iconoclast, and was a great supporter of libraries.
Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, Member of the Continental Congress & the Constitutional Convention, Governor of Pennsylvania, President of the Pennsylvania Assembly, U.S. Minister to France, Postmaster General of the American Colonies, Autobiography, Quoted by Paul LeClerc, “Electronic Data for All People,”, New York Times, August 17, 1996
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Emperor was then only 20 years old and it is doubtful that this was actually written by him personally or even that he was the originator or driver of this policy—probably the strongest statement regarding education of any nation in history. Nonetheless, it is a great quotation on the role of education in the nation. He even ordained that all girls should be educated—an achievement which had not been achieved by the majority of countries 140 years later in 2012. Most incredible about this quotation is that the Emperor made everything else of importance subordinate to the education of children." Meiji the Great
Actually, in the modern English tradition there is no censorship of library materials, but for many countries including some democracies, there is library censorship including some in the United States. However, the Internet has become the most democratic as government censorship is even harder, but still China, Saudi Arabia, and some other countries even censor the Internet.
By 1870 there were over 1000 schools in the South that had been founded and operated by the Freedmen’s Bureau. Despite the racist, negative stereotypes of Negroes, many of them were just the opposite from the stereotype as this quotation demonstrates.
Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSA FRSE was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A polymath, he was a leading writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania.
