Had I the power, I would scatter libraries over the whole land as the sower sows his wheatfield.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the desire to spread knowledge widely and accessibly, similar to how seeds are scattered for growth.
Horace Mann emphasizes the importance of education and knowledge by comparing the distribution of libraries to the act of sowing seeds in a field. Just as a sower spreads seeds to ensure a bountiful harvest, Mann wishes to see libraries, symbols of knowledge and learning, scattered across the land so that everyone has access to education and the opportunity for growth.
In practice
In a speech advocating for community funding for libraries, this quote can emphasize the importance of education access.
Under the Providence of God, our means of education are the grand machinery by which the 'raw material' of human nature can be worked up into inventors and discoverers, into skilled artisans and scientific farmers, into scholars and jurists, into the founders of benevolent institutions, and the great expounders of ethical and theological science.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
There may be frugality which is not economy. A community, that withholds the means of education from its children, withholds the bread of life and starves their souls.
Let us labor for that larger comprehension of truth, and that more thorough repudiation of error, which shall make the history of mankind a series of ascending developments.
Great knowledge is requisite to instruct those who have been well instructed, but still greater knowledge is requisite to instruct those who have been neglected.
Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal.
Awaken people's curiosity. It is enough to open minds, do not overload them. Put there just a spark.
And let no one suppose that I claim that just living can be taught for, in a word, I hold that there does not exist an art of the kind which can implant sobriety and justice into depraved natures. Nevertheless, I do think that the study of political discourse can help more than any other thing to stimulate and form such qualities of character
As citizens, I'm asking you not to leave any child behind. I'm asking you not to be color blind, but to be color brave, so that every child knows that their future matters and their dreams are possible.
Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?
Let there be nothing harmonious about our children's playthings, lest they grow up expecting peace and order, and be eaten alive.
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