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Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire.

William Godwin

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William Godwin
Age: 80 †
Born: 1756
Born: March 3
Died: 1836
Died: April 7
Journalist
Novelist
Philosopher
Political Philosopher
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Wisbech
Cambridgeshire
Principle
Active
Continue
Influence
Principles
Desire
Operate
Cannot
Encouraging
Perseverance

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Government can have no more than two legitimate purposes - the suppression of injustice against individuals within the community, and the common defense against external invasion.
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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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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.
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Hereditary wealth is in reality a premium paid to idleness.
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A celebrated north country apostle, who, after Calvin had damned ninety-nine in a hundred of mankind, had contrived a scheme for damning ninety-nine in a hundred of the followers of Calvin.
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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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Study with desire is real activity without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity.
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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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It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn.
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What can be more clear and sound in explanation, than the love of a parent to his child?
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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.
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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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He that loves reading has everything within his reach.
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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 execution of any thing considerable implies in the first place previous persevering meditation.
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No maxim can be more pernicious than that which would teach us to consult the temper of the times, and to tell only so much as we imagine our contemporaries will be able to bear.
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My mind was bursting with depression and anguish. I muttered imprecations and murmuring as I passed along. I was full of loathing and abhorrence of life, and all that life carries in its train.
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Everything that is usually understood by the term co-operation is, in some degree, an evil.
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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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