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To conceive that compulsion and punishment are the proper means of reformation is the sentiment of a barbarian.

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
Compulsion
Sentiments
Proper
Punishment
Barbarian
Means
Barbarians
Mean
Reformation
Sentiment
Conceive

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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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He that loves reading has everything within his reach.
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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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Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.
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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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It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn.
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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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Our judgment will always suspect those weapons that can be used with equal prospect of success on both sides.
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God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
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Justice is the sum of all moral duty.
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My mind was bursting with depression and anguish. I muttered imprecations and murmuring as I passed along. I was full of loathing and abhorrence of life, and all that life carries in its train.
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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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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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Let us not, in the eagerness of our haste to educate, forget all the ends of education.
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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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As the true object of education is not to render the pupil the mere copy of his preceptor, it is rather to be rejoiced in, than lamented, that various reading should lead him into new trains of thinking.
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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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Man is the only creature we know, that, when the term of his natural life is ended, leaves the memory of himself behind him.
William Godwin
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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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Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.
William Godwin