Public Documents of the State of Wisconsin: Being the Reports of the Various State Officers, Departments and Institutions

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State Printer., 1859 - Wisconsin

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Page 232 - Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.
Page 195 - If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
Page 35 - I were to pray for a taste which should stand me in stead under every variety of circumstances, and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me through life, and a shield against its ills, however things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste for reading.
Page 236 - In this situation of this assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?
Page 31 - It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds, and these invaluable means of communication are in the reach of all. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages.
Page 232 - Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure — reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
Page 31 - No matter how poor I am ; no matter though the prosperous of my own time will not enter my obscure dwelling, if the sacred writers will enter and take up their abode under my roof, if Milton will cross my threshold to sing to me of Paradise, and...
Page 31 - God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are the true levellers. They give to all, who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race.
Page 178 - I promised God that I would look upon every Prussian peasant child as a being who could complain of me before God if I did not provide for him the best education as a man and a Christian which it was possible for me to provide.
Page 32 - ... from what is called the best society in the place where I live. To make this means of culture effectual, a man must select good- books, such as have been written by rightminded and strong-minded men, real thinkers, who instead of diluting by repetition what others say, have something to say for themselves, and write to give relief to full, earnest souls; and these works must not be skimmed over for amusement, but read with fixed attention and a reverential love of truth.

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