Benjamin Rush (1746–1813) was a foundational figure in American medicine and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. A distinguished physician, educator, and social reformer from Philadelphia, Rush’s contributions to medicine and public health were immense and multifaceted. He is often referred to as the “Father of American Psychiatry” for his progressive approach to mental health care, advocating for the humane treatment of patients with mental illnesses at a time when such conditions were poorly understood.

Rush was a prolific writer and educator, helping to establish the medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, where he profoundly influenced medical education in the United States. His medical theories, though some later deemed incorrect, were innovative for his time. Rush also played a significant role during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793, advocating for public health measures and treating numerous patients despite the risk to his own health. Beyond medicine, Rush was a vocal critic of slavery and advocated for various social reforms, embodying the spirit of enlightenment and progress that characterized the early United States.

Benjamin Rush Quotes

1. “A simple democracy is the devil’s own government.”
— Benjamin Rush

2. “We have not only multiplied diseases, but we have made them more fatal.”
— Benjamin Rush

3. “Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us.”
— Benjamin Rush

4. “Dreams are nothing but incoherent ideas, occasioned by partial or imperfect sleep.”
— Benjamin Rush

5. “Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.”
— Benjamin Rush

6. “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.”
— Benjamin Rush

7. “Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights.”
— Benjamin Rush

8. “The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”
— Benjamin Rush

9. “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.”
— Benjamin Rush

10. “I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as satisfied that it is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament.”
— Benjamin Rush

11. “The Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world.”
— Benjamin Rush

12. “It would seem from this fact, that man is naturally a wild animal, and that when taken from the woods, he is never happy in his natural state, ’till he returns to them again.”
— Benjamin Rush

13. “A Christian cannot fail of being a republican.”
— Benjamin Rush

14. “Scandal dies sooner of itself, than we could kill it.”
— Benjamin Rush

15. “I have always considered Christianity as the strong ground of republicanism.”
— Benjamin Rush

16. “Without Virtue there can be no liberty.”
— Benjamin Rush

17. “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.”
— Benjamin Rush

18. “I have alternately been called an Aristocrat and a Democrat. I am neither. I am a Christocrat.”
— Benjamin Rush

19. “The American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American Revolution.”
— Benjamin Rush

20. “The art of healing is like an unroofed temple, uncovered at the top and cracked at the foundation.”
— Benjamin Rush

21. “Let our pupil be taught that he does not belong to himself, but that he is public property. Let him be taught to love his family, but let him be taught at the same time that he must forsake and even forget them when the welfare of his country requires it.”
— Benjamin Rush

22. “Temperate, sincere, and intelligent inquiry and discussion are only to be dreaded by the advocates of error. The truth need not fear them…”
— Benjamin Rush

23. “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

24. “Terror acts powerfully upon the body, through the medium of the mind, and should be employed in the cure of madness.”
— Benjamin Rush

25. “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.””
— Benjamin Rush

26. “I anticipate the Day when to command Respect in the remotest Regions it will be sufficient to say I am an American.”
— Benjamin Rush

27. “The only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government is the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible.”
— Benjamin Rush

28. “Christianity is the only true and perfect religion…”
— Benjamin Rush

29. “I am pursuing Truth, and am indifferent whither I am led, if she is my only leader.”
— Benjamin Rush

30. “Mothers and schools plant the seeds of nearly all the good and evil which exists in the world.”
— Benjamin Rush

31. “Let us show the world that a difference of opinion upon medical subjects is not incompatible with medical friendships; and in so doing, let us throw the whole odium of the hostility of physicians to each other upon their competition for business and money.”
— Benjamin Rush

32. “In such a performance you may lay the foundation of national happiness only in religion, not by leaving it doubtful “whether morals can exist without it,” but by asserting that without religion morals are the effects of causes as purely physical as pleasant breezes and fruitful seasons.”
— Benjamin Rush

33. “Mirth, and even cheerfulness, when employed as remedies in low spirits, are like hot water to a frozen limb.”
— Benjamin Rush

34. “Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind.”
— Benjamin Rush

35. “As the War Office of the United States was established in a time of peace, it is equally reasonable that a Peace Office should be established in a time of War.”
— Benjamin Rush

36. “The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without it there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object of all republican governments.”
— Benjamin Rush

37. “A pioneer is generally a man who has outlived his credit or fortune in the cultivated parts.”
— Benjamin Rush

38. “Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and punishments, that I had rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mahomed inculcated upon our youth than see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles.”
— Benjamin Rush

39. “Without the restraints of religion and social worship, men become savages much sooner than savages become civilized by means of religion and civil government.”
— Benjamin Rush

40. “Mania’s premonitory signs are unusual acts of extravagance, manifested by the purchase of houses, and certain expensive and unnecessary articles of furniture.”
— Benjamin Rush

41. “Now if the study of the Scriptures be necessary to our happiness at any time in our life, the sooner we begin to read them, the more we shall be attached to them…”
— Benjamin Rush