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" Government, as it was forced upon mankind by their vices, so has it commonly been the creature of their ignorance and mistake. "
William Godwin
Government
Vices
Mistake
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" The philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed, is mainly derived from the act of introspection. "
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Act
Man
" God is a being who is himself the cause of his own existence. His prerogative is to perceive before there was anything to be perceived. He is the creator of the universe; He operated upon nothing and turned it into something. "
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Universe
Own
" I am an enemy to revolutions. I abhor, both from temper and from the clearest judgment I am able to form, all violent convulsions in the affairs of men. "
William Godwin
I Am
Temper
Men
" If a thing be really good, it can be shown to be such. "
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Thing
Really
Good
" The soul of man is one of those subtle and evanescent substances that, as long as they remain still, the organ of sight does not remark; it must become agitated to become visible. "
William Godwin
Man
Sight
Soul
" A just and a brave man acts fearlessly and with explicitness; he does not shun, but court, the scrutiny of mankind; he lives in the face of day, and the whole world confesses the clearness of his spirit and the rectitude of his conduct. "
William Godwin
Brave
Face
World
" Without imagination, there can be no genuine ardor in any pursuit or for any acquisition, and without imagination, there can be no genuine morality, no profound feeling of other men's sorrow, no ardent and persevering anxiety for their interests. "
William Godwin
Imagination
Feeling
Anxiety
" The love of independence and dislike of unjust treatment is the source of a thousand virtues. "
William Godwin
Dislike
Virtues
Love
" It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn. "
William Godwin
Importance
Learn
One Thing
" There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination. "
William Godwin
Imagination
Passion
Love
" No one can display or can cultivate a fervent zeal in the mere repetition of a form. "
William Godwin
Cultivate
Repetition
Zeal
" Till 1782, I believed in the doctrine of Calvin: that is, that the majority of mankind were objects of divine condemnation and that their punishment would be everlasting. The 'Systeme de la Nature,' read about the beginning of that year, changed my opinion and made me a Deist. "
William Godwin
Beginning
Me
Nature
" 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
Right
Man
Men
" Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands, and perpetuate its institutions. "
William Godwin
Education
Government
Will
" Everything understood by the term co-operation is in some sense an evil. "
William Godwin
Everything
Understood
Sense
" Justice is the sum of all moral duty. "
William Godwin
Moral
Legal
Justice
" The true object of moral and political disquisition is pleasure or happiness. "
William Godwin
True
Happiness
Moral
" How nations and races of men are to be so governed as may be most conducive to the improvement and happiness of all is one of the most interesting questions that can be offered to our consideration. "
William Godwin
Men
Interesting
Improvement
" In cases where every thing is understood, and measured, and reduced to rule, love is out of the question. "
William Godwin
Out
Understood
Question
" The four principal oral instructors to whom I feel my mind indebted for improvement were Joseph Fawcet, Thomas Holcroft, George Dyson, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. "
William Godwin
Principal
Four
Feel
" During my academical life, and from this time forward, I was indefatigable in my search after truth. I read all the authors of greatest repute, for and against the Trinity, original sin, and the most disputed doctrines, but I was not yet of an understanding sufficiently ripe for impartial decision, and all my inquiries terminated in Calvinism. "
William Godwin
Decision
Search
Truth
" But the watchful care of the parent is endless. The youth is never free from the danger of grating interference. "
William Godwin
Never
Free
Youth
" With respect to my religious sentiments, I have the firmest assurance and tranquillity. I have faithfully endeavoured to improve the faculties and opportunities God has given me, and I am perfectly easy about the consequences. "
William Godwin
Opportunities
Me
God
" Social man regards all those by whom he is surrounded as enemies, or beings who may become such. He is ever on his guard lest his plain speaking should be willfully perverted, or should assume a meaning he never thought of, through the animosity or prejudice of the individual that hears him. "
William Godwin
Thought
Man
Meaning
" 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
Who
Strong
Me
" It is of no consequence whether a man of genius have learned either art or science before twenty-five: all that is necessary, or even desirable, is that his powers should be unfolded, his emulation roused, and his habits conducted into a right channel. "
William Godwin
Right
Science
Habits
" 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
Reason
Gift
Earth
" Superior virtue must be the fruit of superior intelligence. "
William Godwin
Virtue
Superior
Fruit
" The value of a man is in his intrinsic qualities: in that of which power cannot strip him and which adverse fortune cannot take away. That for which he is indebted to circumstances is mere trapping and tinsel. "
William Godwin
Circumstances
Value
Power
" 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
Free
Opinion
Wise