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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.
William Godwin -
To conceive that compulsion and punishment are the proper means of reformation is the sentiment of a barbarian.
William Godwin
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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 -
It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn. The true object of juvenile education, is to provide, against the age of five and twenty, a mind well regulated, active, and prepared to learn. Whatever will inspire habits of industry and observation, will sufficiently answer this purpose.
William Godwin -
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.
William Godwin -
What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name.
William Godwin -
No man must encroach upon my province, nor I upon his. He may advise me, moderately and without pertinaciousness, but he must not expect to dictate to me. He may censure me freely and without reserve; but he should remember that I am to act by my deliberation and not his. I ought to exercise my talents for the benefit of others; but that exercise must be the fruit of my own conviction; no man must attempt to press me into the service.
William Godwin -
The wise man is satisfied with nothing.
William Godwin
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Of Belief Human mathematics, so to speak, like the length of life, are subject to the doctrine of chances.
William Godwin -
Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.
William Godwin -
Our judgment will always suspect those weapons that can be used with equal prospect of success on both sides.
William Godwin -
We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.
William Godwin -
God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
William Godwin -
The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.
William Godwin
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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.
William Godwin -
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 -
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 -
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 -
It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn.
William Godwin -
Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms.
William Godwin
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Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands and perpetuate its institutions.
William Godwin -
The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.
William Godwin -
The execution of any thing considerable implies in the first place previous persevering meditation.
William Godwin -
Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man.
William Godwin