Quote

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

William Godwin

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Sentiments
Proper
Punishment
Barbarian
Means
Barbarians
Mean
Reformation
Sentiment
Conceive
Compulsion

More quotes by William Godwin

Image
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
Image
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
Image
A celebrated north country apostle, who, after Calvin had damned ninety-nine in a hundred of mankind, had contrived a scheme for damning ninety-nine in a hundred of the followers of Calvin.
William Godwin
Image
Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man.
William Godwin
Image
Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.
William Godwin
Image
He that revels in a well-chosen library, has innumerable dishes, and all of admirable flavour.
William Godwin
Image
The wise man is satisfied with nothing.
William Godwin
Image
Government can have no more than two legitimate purposes - the suppression of injustice against individuals within the community, and the common defense against external invasion.
William Godwin
Image
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.
William Godwin
Image
In cases where every thing is understood, and measured, and reduced to rule, love is out of the question.
William Godwin
Image
Invisible things are the only realities invisible things alone are the things that shall remain.
William Godwin
Image
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.
William Godwin
Image
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.
William Godwin
Image
If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the collision of mind with mind.
William Godwin
Image
The real or supposed rights of man are of two kinds, active and passive the right in certain cases to do as we list and the right we possess to the forbearance or assistance of other men. The first of these a just philosophy will probably induce us universally to explode.
William Godwin
Image
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
Image
The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.
William Godwin
Image
Above all we should not forget, that government is an evil, an usurpation upon the private judgment and individual conscience of mankind.
William Godwin
Image
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.
William Godwin
Image
Obey this may be right but beware of reverence.... Government is nothing but regulated force force is its appropriate claim upon your attention. It is the business of individuals to persuade the tendency of concentrated strength, is only to give consistency and permanence to an influence more compendious than persuasion.
William Godwin