The above quote was made by Leo Africanus about his impressions of Timbuktu, a Moroccan city that impressed him a lot because of the incentive to intellectual growth that was imposed in the region.
The author is impressed by the amount of books, readers and people with very intellectual professions such as doctors, judges, teachers, priests and many learned men who were able to continue academic studies through financing from the king himself.
Today congress grants the president a leadership role in proposing legislation. At the same time members of congress feel free to debate modify and pass or defeat anything the president proposes.