Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man. — William Godwin Copy Share Image
If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms. — William Godwin Copy Share Image
Let no man despise the oracles of books! A book is a dead man, a sort of mummy, embowelled and embalmed, but… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
“A book is a dead man, a sort of mummy, embowelled and embalmed, but that once had flesh, and motion, and a… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
My temper is of a recluse and contemplative cast; had it been otherwise, I should, perhaps, on some former occasions, have entered… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
Books have been handed down from generation to generation, as the true teachers of piety and the love of God, that represent… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
In the two novels I have published, it was my fortune at different times, and from different persons, to hear the most… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
In a well-written book we are presented with the maturest reflections, or the happiest flights of a mind of uncommon excellence. It… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
I know nothing worth the living for but usefulness and the service of my fellow-creatures. The only object I pursue is to increase, as… — William Godwin Copy Share
There must be room for the imagination to exercise its powers; we must conceive and apprehend a thousand things which we do not actually… — William Godwin Copy Share
In infamy, it is wisely provided that he who stands highest in the ranks of society has the heaviest load to sustain. — William Godwin Copy Share
No man knows the value of innocence and integrity but he who has lost them. — William Godwin Copy Share
Study with desire is real activity; without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity. — William Godwin Copy Share
“Godwin on Fenelon and his Valet * Following is an excerpt from William Godwin's Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, Book II, Chapter II: “Of Justice”:… — William Godwin Copy Share
Tenderness is the name for a lover's most exquisite sensation; protection is implied in his most generous and heart-thrilling impulse. — William Godwin Copy Share
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 Copy Share
During my academical life, and from this time forward, I was indefatigable in my search after truth. I read all the authors of greatest… — William Godwin Copy Share
Was ever a great discovery prosecuted or an important benefit conferred upon the human race by him who was incapable of standing and thinking… — William Godwin Copy Share
The real or supposed rights of man are of two kinds, active and passive; the right in certain cases to do as we list;… — William Godwin Copy Share
Soundness of understanding is connected with freedom of enquiry; consequently, opinion should, as far as public security will admit, be exempted from restraint. — William Godwin Copy Share
Power is not happiness. Security and peace are more to be desired than a man at which nations tremble. — William Godwin Copy Share
“Strange that men, from age to age, should consent to hold their lives at the breath of another, merely that each in his turn… — William Godwin Copy Share
