William Godwin
William Godwin
William Godwinwas an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous for two books that he published within the space of a year: An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, an attack on political institutions, and Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams, which attacks aristocratic privilege, but also is the first mystery novel. Based on the success of both,...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth3 March 1756
William Godwin quotes about
Once annihilate the quackery of government, and the most homebred understanding might be strong enough to detect the artifices of the state juggler that would mislead him.
I know many men who are misanthropes, and profess to look down with disdain on their species. My creed is of an opposite character. All that we observe that is best and most excellent in the intellectual world, is man: and it is easy to perceive in many cases, that the believer in mysteries does little more, than dress up his deity in the choicest of human attributes and qualifications. I have lived among, and I feel an ardent interest in and love for, my brethren of mankind. This sentiment, which I regard with complacency in my own breast, I would gladly cherish in others.
How can any one have genuine happiness, unless in proportion as he looks round, and, "behold, every thing is very good?
A soldier is a man whose business it is to kill those who never offended him, and who are the innocent martyrs of other men's iniquities. Whatever may become of the abstract question of the justifiableness of war, it seems impossible that the soldier should not be a depraved and unnatural thing.
Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius . . . he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much.
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.
Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.
The philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed, is mainly derived from the act of introspection.
Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.
The wise man is satisfied with nothing.
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.
The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.
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.
Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire.