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Study with desire is real activity without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity.

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
Mockery
Activity
Study
Desire
Without
Real
Semblance

More quotes by William Godwin

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The subtleties of mathematics defecate the grossness of our apprehension, and supply the elements of a sounder and severer logic.
William Godwin
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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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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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Everything that is usually understood by the term co-operation is, in some degree, an evil.
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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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Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.
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The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.
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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.
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Power is not happiness.
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There is no sphere in which a human being can be supposed to act where one mode of reasoning will not, in every given instance, be more reasonable than any other mode. That mode the being is bound by every principle of justice to pursue.
William Godwin
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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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There must be room for the imagination to exercise its powers we must conceive and apprehend a thousand things which we do not actually witness.
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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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He that loves reading has everything within his reach.
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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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God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
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Whenever truth stands in the mind unaccompanied by the evidence upon which it depends, it cannot properly be said to be apprehended at all.
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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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The lessons of their early youth regulated the conduct of their riper years.
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There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination.
William Godwin