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Whenever government assumes to deliver us from the trouble of thinking for ourselves, the only consequences it produces are those of torpor and imbecility.

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
Trouble
Assumes
Government
Deliver
Thinking
Produces
Consequences
Assuming
Whenever
Consequence
Torpor
Produce
Imbecility

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Invisible things are the only realities invisible things alone are the things that shall remain.
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The subtleties of mathematics defecate the grossness of our apprehension, and supply the elements of a sounder and severer logic.
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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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If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the collision of mind with mind.
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Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.
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The proper method for hastening the decay of error, is not, by brute force, or by regulation which is one of the classes of force, to endeavour to reduce men to intellectual uniformity but on the contrary by teaching every man to think for himself.
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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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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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He that loves reading has everything within his reach.
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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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Study with desire is real activity without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity.
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Power is not happiness.
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There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination.
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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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Everything that is usually understood by the term co-operation is, in some degree, an evil.
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The lessons of their early youth regulated the conduct of their riper years.
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Power is not happiness. Security and peace are more to be desired than a name at which nations tremble.
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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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The philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed, is mainly derived from the act of introspection.
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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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