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Justice is the sum of all moral duty.

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
Duty
Justice
Moral

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Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.
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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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What can be more clear and sound in explanation, than the love of a parent to his child?
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Above all we should not forget, that government is an evil, an usurpation upon the private judgment and individual conscience of mankind.
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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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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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The most desirable mode of education, is that which is careful that all the acquisitions of the pupil shall be preceded and accompanied by desire . . . The boy, like the man, studies because he desires it. He proceeds upon a plan of is own invention, or by which, by adopting, he has made his own. Everything bespeaks independence and inequality.
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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 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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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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Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man.
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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.... An attempt to scrutinize men's thoughts and punish their opinions is of all kinds of despotism the most odious: yet this is peculiarly character of a period of revolution.... There is no period more at war with the existence of liberty.
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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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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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We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.
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The diligent scholar is he that loves himself, and desires to have reason to applaud and love himself.
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Our judgment will always suspect those weapons that can be used with equal prospect of success on both sides.
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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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The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.
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