Quote

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

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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
Kind
Probably
List
Men
Rights
Lists
Induce
Two
Active
Forbearance
Certain
Kinds
Explode
Firsts
Supposed
Universally
First
Atheism
Assistance
Right
Cases
Passive
Real
Philosophy
Possess

More quotes by William Godwin

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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.
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He that loves reading has everything within his reach.
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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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Invisible things are the only realities invisible things alone are the things that shall remain.
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The wise man is satisfied with nothing.
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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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The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.
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.
William Godwin
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Every man has a certain sphere of discretion which he has a right to expect shall not be infringed by his neighbours. This right flows from the very nature of man.
William Godwin
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All education is despotism. It is perhaps impossible for the young to be conducted without introducing in many cases the tyranny implicit in obedience. Go there do that read write rise lie down - will perhaps forever be the language addressed to youth by age.
William Godwin
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Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.
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Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire.
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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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The execution of any thing considerable implies in the first place previous persevering meditation.
William Godwin
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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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Above all we should not forget, that government is an evil, an usurpation upon the private judgment and individual conscience of mankind.
William Godwin
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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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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
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Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms.
William Godwin
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Of Belief Human mathematics, so to speak, like the length of life, are subject to the doctrine of chances.
William Godwin