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. William Godwin More Quotes by William Godwin More Quotes From William Godwin Books gratify and excite our curiosity in innumerable ways. William Godwin curiosity book way Of Belief Human mathematics, so to speak, like the length of life, are subject to the doctrine of chances. William Godwin length-of-life doctrine statistics 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 imagine able bears Study with desire is real activity; without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity. William Godwin study real desire The subtleties of mathematics defecate the grossness of our apprehension, and supply the elements of a sounder and severer logic. William Godwin logic elements statistics Hereditary wealth is in reality a premium paid to idleness. William Godwin premium wealth reality Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms. William Godwin taken literature animal He has no right to his life when his duty calls him to resign it. Other men are bound ... to deprive him of life or liberty, if that should appear in any case to be indispensably necessary to prevent a greater evil. William Godwin liberty evil men Whenever truth stands in the mind unaccompanied by the evidence upon which it depends, it cannot properly be said to be apprehended at all. William Godwin mind said science My thoughts will be taken up with the future or the past, with what is to come or what has been. Of the present there is necessarily no image. William Godwin my-thoughts taken past 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. William Godwin real men philosophy The execution of any thing considerable implies in the first place previous persevering meditation. William Godwin execution meditation firsts Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man. William Godwin lovers men book 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. William Godwin ninety-nine atheism country My mind was bursting with depression and anguish. I muttered imprecations and murmuring as I passed along. I was full of loathing and abhorrence of life, and all that life carries in its train. William Godwin loathing mind depression There is no sphere in which a human being can be supposed to act where one mode of reasoning will not, in every given instance, be more reasonable than any other mode. That mode the being is bound by every principle of justice to pursue. William Godwin spheres atheism justice Above all we should not forget that government is an evil, a usurpation upon the private judgement and individual conscience of mankind. William Godwin conscience government evil forget Woe to the man who is always busy - hurried in a turmoil of engagements, from occupation to occupation, and with no seasons interposed of recollection, contemplation and repose! Such a man must inevitably be gross and vulgar, and hard and indelicate - the sort of man with whom no generous spirit would desire to hold intercourse. William Godwin man seasons busy desire What are gold and jewels and precious utensils? Mere dross and dirt. The human face and the human heart, reciprocations of kindness and love, and all the nameless sympathies of our nature - these are the only objects worth being attached to. William Godwin nature kindness heart love Religion is among the most beautiful and most natural of all things - that religion which 'sees God in clouds and hears Him in the wind,' which endows every object of sense with a living soul, which finds in the system of nature whatever is holy, mysterious and venerable, and inspires the bosom with sentiments of awe and veneration. William Godwin nature soul god beautiful
