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To demonstrate, in the completest manner possible, the sameness of the electric fluid with the matter of lightning, Dr. Franklin, astonishing as it must have appeared, contrived actually to bring lightning from the heavens, by means of an electrical kite, which he raised when a storm of thunder was perceived to be coming on.

— Joseph Priestley

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Source, in full

The Kite Experiment, The Pennsylvania Gazette, October 19, 1752; also copy: The Royal Society. II. Printed in Joseph Priestley, The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments (London, 1767), pp. 179–81; as qtd. in “Benjamin Franklin and the Kite Experiment”, Franklin Institute.

More quotes by Joseph Priestley

The unity of God is a doctrine on which the greatest stress is laid in the whole system of revelation.

An History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782)

The History of Electricity is a field full of pleasing objects, according to all the genuine and universal principles of taste, deduced from a knowledge of human nature.

The History and Present State of Electricity (1767)

As the greatest things often take their rise from the smallest beginnings, so the worst things sometimes proceed from good intentions.

An History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782)

The mind of man will never be able to contemplate the being, perfections, and providence of God without meeting with inexplicable difficulties.

Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion (1772)

Governors will never be awed by the voice of the people, so long as it is a mere voice, without overt-acts.

Essay on the First Principles of Government, 2nd Edition (1771)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Joseph Priestley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.