William Godwin Quotes - Page 2

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

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

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.

We are so curiously made that one atom put in the wrong place in our original structure will often make us unhappy for life.

Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.... An attempt to scrutinize men's thoughts and punish their opinions is of all kinds of despotism the most odious: yet this is peculiarly character of a period of revolution.... There is no period more at war with the existence of liberty.

Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands and perpetuate its institutions.

Man is the only creature we know, that, when the term of his natural life is ended, leaves the memory of himself behind him.

Whenever truth stands in the mind unaccompanied by the evidence upon which it depends, it cannot properly be said to be apprehended at all.

Everything that is usually understood by the term co-operation is, in some degree, an evil.

Self-respect to be nourished in the mind of the pupil, is one of the most valuable results of a well conducted education.

Books gratify and excite our curiosity in innumerable ways.

The philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed, is mainly derived from the act of introspection.

We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.

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.

Power is not happiness.

I shall attempt to prove two things: first, that the actions and dispositions of mankind are the offspring of circumstances and events, and not of any original determination that they bring into the world; and, secondly, that the great stream of our voluntary actions essentially depends, not upon the direct and immediate impulses of sense, but upon the decisions of the understanding.

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.

The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.

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.

Invisible things are the only realities; invisible things alone are the things that shall remain.

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.

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.

If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book.

There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination.

He that revels in a well-chosen library, has innumerable dishes, and all of admirable flavour.