Charles Babbage Government Quotations

The public, who consume the new commodity or profit by the new invention, are much better judges of its merit than the government can be.

Unless there exist peculiar institutions for the support of such inquirers, or unless the Government directly interfere, the contriver of a thaumatrope may derive profit from his ingenuity, whilst he who unravels the laws of light and vision, on which multitudes of phenomena depend, shall descend unrewarded to the tomb.