Ezra Cornell

Ezra Cornell (/kɔːrˈnɛl/; January 11, 1807 – December 9, 1874) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University. He also served as President of the New York Agriculture Society and as a New York State Senator.

I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.

Quotes

• I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.
  • Statement by Cornell in 1868 that became the founding principle and motto of Cornell University.

• The individual is better, society is better, and the state is better, for the culture of its citizens; therefore we desire to extend the means for the culture of all.
  • Address on the morning of 7 October 1868, as quoted by Carl L. Becker, John Wendell Anderson Professor of History at Cornell University from 1917 to 1941, in Cornell University: Founders and the Founding (1943), Ithaca: Cornell University Press, March 1949 reissue, p. 133

• I hope we have laid the foundation of an institution which shall combine practical with liberal education, which shall fit the youth of our country for the professions, the farms, the mines, the manufactories, for the investigations of science, and for mastering all the practical questions of life with success and honor.
  • Address on the morning of 7 October 1868, as quoted by Carl L. Becker, John Wendell Anderson Professor of History at Cornell University from 1917 to 1941, in Cornell University: Founders and the Founding (1943), Ithaca: Cornell University Press, March 1949 reissue, p. 136