Quote

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

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There is no sphere in which a human being can be supposed to act where one mode of reasoning will not, in every given instance, be more reasonable than any other mode. That mode the being is bound by every principle of justice to pursue.
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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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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.
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There must be room for the imagination to exercise its powers we must conceive and apprehend a thousand things which we do not actually witness.
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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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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 great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children.
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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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God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
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Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire.
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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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Justice is the sum of all moral duty.
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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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Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.
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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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The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.
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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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He that revels in a well-chosen library, has innumerable dishes, and all of admirable flavour.
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Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.
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