William Godwin Quotes and Sayings
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Above all we should not forget that government is an evil, a usurpation upon the private judgement and individual conscience of mankind. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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As the true object of education is not to render the pupil the mere copy of his preceptor, it is rather to be rejoiced in, than lamented, that various reading should lead him into new trains of thinking. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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But the watchful care of the parent is endless. The youth is never free from the danger of grating interference. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Every man has a certain sphere of discretion which he has a right to expect shall not be infringed by his neighbours. This right flows from the very nature of man. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Everything understood by the term co-operation is in some sense an evil. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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God himself has no right to be a tyrant. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands, and perpetuate its institutions. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 8
He has no right to his life when his duty calls him to resign it. Other men are bound... to deprive him of life or liberty, if that should appear in any case to be indispensably necessary to prevent a greater evil. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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He that loves reading has everything within his reach. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 10
If a thing be really good, it can be shown to be such. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 11
If he who employs coercion against me could mould me to his purposes by argument, no doubt he would. He pretends to punish me because his argument is strong; but he really punishes me because his argument is weak. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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In cases where every thing is understood, and measured, and reduced to rule, love is out of the question. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Justice is the sum of all moral duty. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 15
Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius... he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Let us not, in the eagerness of our haste to educate, forget all the ends of education. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Man is the only creature we know, that, when the term of his natural life is ended, leaves the memory of himself behind him. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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My thoughts will be taken up with the future or the past, with what is to come or what has been. Of the present there is necessarily no image. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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One of the prerogatives by which man is eminently distinguished from all other living beings inhabiting this globe of earth, consists in the gift of reason. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 22
Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 24
Study with desire is real activity; without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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The cause of justice is the cause of humanity. Its advocates should overflow with universal good will. We should love this cause, for it conduces to the general happiness of mankind. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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The diligent scholar is he that loves himself, and desires to have reason to applaud and love himself. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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The execution of any thing considerable implies in the first place previous persevering meditation. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 28
The great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 29
The lessons of their early youth regulated the conduct of their riper years. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 30
The philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed, is mainly derived from the act of introspection. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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The real or supposed rights of man are of two kinds, active and passive; the right in certain cases to do as we list; and the right we possess to the forbearance or assistance of other men. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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There is reverence that we owe to everything in human shape. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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There must be room for the imagination to exercise its powers; we must conceive and apprehend a thousand things which we do not actually witness. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 36
They held it their duty to live but for their country. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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To him it is an ocean, unfathomable, and without a shore. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
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What can be more clear and sound in explanation, than the love of a parent to his child? William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 40
What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name. William Godwin | Refcard PDF ↑