William Godwin Quotes - Page 2

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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

  Love, Happiness, Justice

  William Godwin (1793). “An enquiry concerning political justice, and its influence on general virtue and happiness”, p.417

  16 Copy quote

• Duty is that mode of action on the part of the individual which constitutes the best possible application of his capacity to the general benefit.

  William Godwin

  Benefits, Action, Individual

  William Godwin (1798). “Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness: By William Godwin”, p.156

  6 Copy quote

• Study with desire is real activity; without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity.

  William Godwin

  Real, Desire, Study

  William Godwin (1797). “The Enquirer: Reflections on Education, Manners and Literature, in a Series of Essays”, p.78

  9 Copy quote

• If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the collision of mind with mind.

  William Godwin

  Mind, Collision, Ifs

  William Godwin (2000). “Caleb Williams”, p.25, Broadview Press

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  Men, Atheism, Flow

  William Godwin (1798). “Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness: By William Godwin”, p.167

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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.

  William Godwin

  War, Character, Men

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• Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.

  William Godwin

  Characteristics, Unequivocal, Humans

  'An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Political Justice' (1793) bk. 1, ch. 2

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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.

  William Godwin

  Book, Reflection, Mind

  William Godwin (1823). “The enquirer. Reflections on education, manners, and literature. In a series of essays”, p.29

  7 Copy quote

• To conceive that compulsion and punishment are the proper means of reformation is the sentiment of a barbarian.

  William Godwin

  Mean, Punishment, Barbarians

  William Godwin (1798). “Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness: By William Godwin”, p.373

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• All education is despotism. It is perhaps impossible for the young to be conducted without introducing in many cases the tyranny implicit in obedience. Go there; do that; read; write; rise; lie down - will perhaps forever be the language addressed to youth by age.

  William Godwin

  Lying, Writing, Forever

  William Godwin (1823). “The enquirer. Reflections on education, manners, and literature. In a series of essays”, p.53

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• Whenever truth stands in the mind unaccompanied by the evidence upon which it depends, it cannot properly be said to be apprehended at all.

  William Godwin

  Science, Mind, Said

  William Godwin, S. Carlyle Potter (191?). “Reflections on Political Justice: Selections from the Writings of William Godwin”

  8 Copy quote

• If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book.

  William Godwin

  Book, Men, Ifs

  William Godwin (1798). “Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, p.133

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• The philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed, is mainly derived from the act of introspection.

  William Godwin

  Philosophy, Men, Wisest Man

  William Godwin (2006). “Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries”, p.385, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• As long as parents and teachers in general shall fall under the established rule, it is clear that politics and modes of government will educate and infect us all. They poison our minds, before we can resist, or so much as suspect their malignity. Like the barbarous directors of the Eastern seraglios, they deprive us of our vitality, and fit us for their despicable employment from the cradle.

  William Godwin

  Teacher, Fall, Government

  William Godwin (1798). “Enquiry Concerning Political Justice: And Its Influence on Morals and Happiness”, p.49

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• It is absurd to expect the inclinations and wishes of two human beings to coincide, through any long period of time. To oblige them to act and live together is to subject them to some inevitable potion of thwarting, bickering, and unhappiness.

  William Godwin

  Two, Long, Wish

  8 Copy quote

• I shall attempt to prove two things: first, that the actions and dispositions of mankind are the offspring of circumstances and events, and not of any original determination that they bring into the world; and, secondly, that the great stream of our voluntary actions essentially depends, not upon the direct and immediate impulses of sense, but upon the decisions of the understanding.

  William Godwin

  Determination, Two, Decision

  William Godwin (2015). “Enquiry Concerning Political Justice: And Its Influence On Morals And Happiness”, p.78, Penguin UK

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• Everything that is usually understood by the term co-operation is, in some degree, an evil.

  William Godwin

  Evil, Operations, Term

  "Romantic Rationalist: A William Godwin Reader".

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• He that revels in a well-chosen library, has innumerable dishes, and all of admirable flavour.

  William Godwin

  Library, Flavor, Dishes

  "The Enquirer: Reflections on Education, Manners and Literature, in a Series of Essays".

  6 Copy quote

• Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands and perpetuate its institutions.

  William Godwin

  School, Government, Hands

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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

  Memories, Men, Life Is

  William Godwin (1831). “Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions, and Discoveries: Interspersed with Some Particulars Respecting the Author”, p.73

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• By right, as the word is employed in this subject, has always been understood discretion, that is, a full and complete power of either doing a thing or omitting it, without the person's becoming liable to animadversion or censure from another, that is, in other words, without his incurring any degree of turpitude or guilt. Now in this sense I affirm that man has no rights, no discretionary power whatever.

  William Godwin

  Men, Rights, Guilt

  William Godwin (1793). “An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice: And Its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness”, p.111

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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

  Workout, Exercise, Imagination

  William Godwin (2006). “Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries”, p.399, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• The most desirable mode of education, is that which is careful that all the acquisitions of the pupil shall be preceded and accompanied by desire . . . The boy, like the man, studies because he desires it. He proceeds upon a plan of is own invention, or by which, by adopting, he has made his own. Everything bespeaks independence and inequality.

  William Godwin

  Boys, Men, Independence

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• The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.

  William Godwin

  Teaching, Men, Thinking

  William Godwin, Luke White (bookseller.) (1793). “An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice: And Its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness”, p.375

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• Invisible things are the only realities; invisible things alone are the things that shall remain.

  William Godwin

  Reality, Invisible, Invisible Things

  William Godwin (1817). “Mandeville: A Tale of the Seventeenth Century in England”, p.48

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