Soundness of understanding is connected with freedom of enquiry; consequently, opinion should, as far as public security will admit, be exempted from… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
The most desirable state of mankind is that which maintains general security with the smallest encroachment upon individual independence. — William Godwin Copy Share Image
Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.... An attempt to scrutinize men's thoughts and punish… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
I was brought up in great tenderness, and though my mind was proud to independence, I was never led to much independence… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
England has been called, with great felicity of conception, 'the land of liberty and good sense.' We have preserved many of the… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
To diminish the cases in which the assistance of others is felt absolutely necessary is the only genuine road to independence. — William Godwin Copy Share Image
He has no right to his life when his duty calls him to resign it. Other men are bound... to deprive him… — William Godwin Copy Share Image
The love of independence and dislike of unjust treatment is the source of a thousand virtues. — William Godwin Copy Share Image
Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
No man knows the value of innocence and integrity but he who has lost them. — William Godwin Copy Share Image
Study with desire is real activity; without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity. — William Godwin Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
