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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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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
Maxims
Able
Temper
Much
Bear
Would
Bears
Imagine
Consult
Teach
Contemporaries
Maxim
Times
Pernicious
Tell

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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Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands and perpetuate its institutions.
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The philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed, is mainly derived from the act of introspection.
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It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn. The true object of juvenile education, is to provide, against the age of five and twenty, a mind well regulated, active, and prepared to learn. Whatever will inspire habits of industry and observation, will sufficiently answer this purpose.
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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 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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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.
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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.
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Everything that is usually understood by the term co-operation is, in some degree, an evil.
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In cases where every thing is understood, and measured, and reduced to rule, love is out of the question.
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To conceive that compulsion and punishment are the proper means of reformation is the sentiment of a barbarian.
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Invisible things are the only realities invisible things alone are the things that shall remain.
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Justice is the sum of all moral duty.
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Hereditary wealth is in reality a premium paid to idleness.
William Godwin
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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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There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination.
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Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius... he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much.
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Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.
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Self-respect to be nourished in the mind of the pupil, is one of the most valuable results of a well conducted education.
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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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