Quotes of Laurent Clerc

“I am sending to the United States the best taught of my pupils, a deaf-mute
whom my art has restored to society and to religion.”
“To console myself for his loss, I love to think of him as the Apostle to the Deaf
Mutes of the New World.”
Letter of recommendation for Clerc from L’Abbe Sicard – June 16, 1816

Laurent Clerc, at a public demonstration and Q&A in Philadelphia –

1817 (in progress……)

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“I do thank my God I have one friend, yes one friend, dear to me, in whom I have
always confided, to whom I have opened the inmost of my soul, who will never
abandon me – it is you, you whom when I first saw I esteemed; you who was so
kind to me in France; you who taught me how to teach the poor deaf & dumb;
you who trusted in me when we left together your native land; you who crossed
the great deep with me; you who went with me from city to city begging for the
dear objects of our case; you who have labored with me one year in leading
these immortal souls to the knowledge of their God & Saviour; you who have
been my counselor in difficulty, my succor in melancholy, my friend always.”
Letter from Thomas H. Gallaudet to Laurent Clerc – April 10, 1818
 

“Every invention or discovery, however laudable and ingenious it may be, is
never quite right in the beginning; time only makes it perfect.”
Laurent Clerc in an address at a public examination at ASD – May 28, 1818
 

“Every creature, every work of God, is admirably well made; but if any one
appears imperfect in our eyes, it does not belong to us to criticize it.”
Laurent Clerc in an address at a public examination at ASD – May 28, 1818

“Clerc’s familiarity with the whole circle of signs is the only fountain from which
must flow all the future streams of instruction in the Asylum.”
Thomas H. Gallaudet’s report to the Asylum’s BOD – June 1, 1818

“Voted that the Board entertain a high respect for the character & talents of Mr.
Clerc, and a grateful remembrance of his services, and it is their unanimous
desire that he should remain in the Asylum and that the Committee wait on Mr.
Clerc and express the sentiments of this Board to him, and request a renewal of
the contract with him.”
ASD Board of Directors – February 24, 1820

“I had a great desire to see the world, and especially to make my unfortunate
fellow beings on the other side of the Atlantic participate in the same benefits of
education that I had myself received.”
Laurent Clerc - 1852