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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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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
Line
Lines
Animal
Literature
Demarcation
Taken
Bearings
Form
Grand
Human
Kingdoms
Humans
Forms

More quotes by William Godwin

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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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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.
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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.
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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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What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name.
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The lessons of their early youth regulated the conduct of their riper years.
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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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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.
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Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.
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The wise man is satisfied with nothing.
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God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
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Invisible things are the only realities invisible things alone are the things that shall remain.
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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.
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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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Our judgment will always suspect those weapons that can be used with equal prospect of success on both sides.
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Justice is the sum of all moral duty.
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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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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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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.
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Hereditary wealth is in reality a premium paid to idleness.
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