William Godwin Quotes
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The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.
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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.
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Study with desire is real activity; without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity.
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To conceive that compulsion and punishment are the proper means of reformation is the sentiment of a barbarian.
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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.
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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. The first of these a just philosophy will probably induce us universally to explode.
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Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.... An attempt to scrutinize men's thoughts and punish their opinions is of all kinds of despotism the most odious: yet this is peculiarly character of a period of revolution.... There is no period more at war with the existence of liberty.
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Obey; this may be right; but beware of reverence.... Government is nothing but regulated force; force is its appropriate claim upon your attention. It is the business of individuals to persuade; the tendency of concentrated strength, is only to give consistency and permanence to an influence more compendious than persuasion.
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Our judgment will always suspect those weapons that can be used with equal prospect of success on both sides.
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But the watchful care of the parent is endless. The youth is never free from the danger of grating interference.
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If admiration were not generally deemed the exclusive property of the rich, and contempt the constant lackey of poverty, the love of gain would cease to be an universal problem.
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In a well-written book we are presented with the maturest reflections, or the happiest flights of a mind of uncommon excellence. It is impossible that we can be much accustomed to such companions without attaining some resemblance to them.
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It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn.
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We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.
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Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.
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Of Belief Human mathematics, so to speak, like the length of life, are subject to the doctrine of chances.
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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.
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The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.
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Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man.
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The execution of any thing considerable implies in the first place previous persevering meditation.
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God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
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Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms.
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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.
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Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands and perpetuate its institutions.