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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.

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
Community
Legitimate
Purpose
Purposes
Common
External
Individual
Injustice
Two
Individuals
Government
Defense
Liberty
Suppression
Within
Invasion

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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.
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The great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children.
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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.
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We are so curiously made that one atom put in the wrong place in our original structure will often make us unhappy for life.
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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.
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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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What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name.
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Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius... he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much.
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In cases where every thing is understood, and measured, and reduced to rule, love is out of the question.
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He that loves reading has everything within his reach.
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Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire.
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Books gratify and excite our curiosity in innumerable ways.
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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.
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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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Self-respect to be nourished in the mind of the pupil, is one of the most valuable results of a well conducted education.
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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.
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Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man.
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Let us not, in the eagerness of our haste to educate, forget all the ends of education.
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We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.
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There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination.
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