Quotes By William Godwin

What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name.

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 diligent scholar is he that loves himself, and desires to have reason to applaud and love himself.

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

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

Everything understood by the term co-operation is in some sense an evil.

Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius... he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much.

There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination.

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

It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn.

But the watchful care of the parent is endless. The youth is never free from the danger of grating interference.

We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.

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

The great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children.

Above all we should not forget that government is an evil, a usurpation upon the private judgement and individual conscience of mankind.

He that loves reading has everything within his reach.

In cases where every thing is understood, and measured, and reduced to rule, love is out of the question.

Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.

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.

If a thing be really good, it can be shown to be such.

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.

Let us not, in the eagerness of our haste to educate, forget all the ends of education.

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.

Man is the only creature we know, that, when the term of his natural life is ended, leaves the memory of himself behind him.

There is reverence that we owe to everything in human shape.

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.

They held it their duty to live but for their country.

Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.

To him it is an ocean, unfathomable, and without a shore.

God himself has no right to be a tyrant.