The Carl Linnaeus sculpture, taken by Libb Thims (2014), at the Chicago botanical gardens, shown reaching for some type of plant specimen for his bag (thrown over shoulder). |
“I know no greater man on earth than you.”— Jean Rousseau (c.1770), message sent to Linnaeus [6]
“His heart was remarkably noble, though I am well aware that he was accused of many faults. His intellect was keen and penetrating: you could see it in his eyes. But his greatest characteristic was his ability to reason methodically: whatever he said or did was methodical and systematical. In his youth he had a wonderful memory, but all too soon it let him down... His passions were strong and violent...He could lose his temper abruptly or become very irritated; those feelings would disappear as quickly as they had appeared. You could rely on the constancy of his friendship; it was almost always founded on an interest in science, and all the world knows how much he did for his pupils and how devotedly, how ardently they returned his friendship and became his champions.”— Johan Fabricius (c.1800) [6]
“With the exception of Shakespeare and Spinoza, I know no one among the no longer living who has influenced me more strongly!”— Johann Goethe (c.1820) [6]
“The apes are the nearest relations of the human race.”— Carl Linnaeus (c.1775), The Cousins of Man [7]
“No one has been a greater botanicus or zoologist. No one has written more books, more correctly, more methodically, from his own experience. No one has more completely changed a whole science and initiated a new epoch. No one has become more of a household name throughout the world.”— Carl Linnaeus (c.1775), Auto-Existography [6]