...released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall, on shaking off the shackles of power. Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science,...times in which I have lived, have forced me to take part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions. I thank...

...even in its drier forms," he wrote while still a youth. At other times his letters declare: "Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight"; science "is my passion," politics "is my duty" ; and he said nothing lured him from such studies but...