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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.
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
Individual
Conduct
Men
Firsts
Conviction
Without
None
Nothing
Duty
First
Trust
Take
Principles
Clear
Done
Upon
Right
More quotes by William Godwin
What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name.
William Godwin
My thoughts will be taken up with the future or the past, with what is to come or what has been. Of the present there is necessarily no image.
William Godwin
The great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children.
William Godwin
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.
William Godwin
Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire.
William Godwin
Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius... he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much.
William Godwin
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.
William Godwin
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
Study with desire is real activity without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity.
William Godwin
Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.
William Godwin
Justice is the sum of all moral duty.
William Godwin
Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.
William Godwin
We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.
William Godwin
If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book.
William Godwin
Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.
William Godwin
To conceive that compulsion and punishment are the proper means of reformation is the sentiment of a barbarian.
William Godwin
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.
William Godwin
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.
William Godwin
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.
William Godwin
Power is not happiness.
William Godwin