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

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
Tranquility
Sober
Revolution
Quiet
Produce
Passion
Reason
Tranquil
Revolutions

More quotes by William Godwin

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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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God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
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If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book.
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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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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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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.
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Hereditary wealth is in reality a premium paid to idleness.
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The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.
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The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.
William Godwin
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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.
William Godwin
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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.
William Godwin
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The first duty of man is to take none of the principles of conduct upon trust to do nothing without a clear and individual conviction that it is right to be done.
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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.
William Godwin
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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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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.
William Godwin
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The wise man is satisfied with nothing.
William Godwin
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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
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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.
William Godwin
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Everything that is usually understood by the term co-operation is, in some degree, an evil.
William Godwin
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He has no right to his life when his duty calls him to resign it. Other men are bound ... to deprive him of life or liberty, if that should appear in any case to be indispensably necessary to prevent a greater evil.
William Godwin