Samuel Morse

Invention American 1791 – 1872 396 quotes

An American painter and inventor who contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system and co-developed the Morse code.

Most quoted

"The mere transmission of intelligence is the smallest part of the work of the telegraph. Its great mission is to serve as a bond of peace and friendship between the nations of the earth."

— from Speech, 1868

"This mode of instantaneous communication must inevitably become an instrument of immense power, to be wielded for good or for evil, as it shall be properly or improperly directed."

— from Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, 1838

"This mode of communication will enable the people of the United States to communicate with each other, and with the government, with a rapidity and certainty hitherto unknown."

— from Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, 1838

All quotes by Samuel Morse (396)

If the electric current can be made visible, its speed is that of light.

Notebook entry 1837

The whole surface of the earth would be converted into a vast brain, all the nerves of which would be electric wires.

Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury 1838

The world is a great book, of which the telegraph is the index.

Attributed

The telegraph is an instrument by which the whole world can be brought into one family.

Attributed

I have been so constantly engaged in the prosecution of my invention, that I have had no time to attend to anything else.

Letter to a friend 1838

The success of the telegraph is not owing to any one man, but to the combined efforts of many.

Speech 1848

I am not aware that I have ever claimed to be the sole inventor of the telegraph.

Letter to the New York Observer 1848

The telegraph is a new power, which, like all new powers, may be abused.