To conceive that compulsion and punishment are the proper means of reformation is the sentiment of a barbarian. William Godwin More Quotes by William Godwin More Quotes From William Godwin No man knows the value of innocence and integrity but he who has lost them. William Godwin valuemaninnocencelostintegrity I believe in this being, not because I have any proper or direct knowledge of His existence, but I am at a loss to account for the existence and arrangement of the visible universe, and, being left in the wide sea of conjecture without a clue from analogy or experience, I find the conjecture of a God easy, obvious, and irresistible. William Godwin i-amgodseaknowledge How different a creature is man in society and man in solitude! William Godwin mansocietysolitudedifferent A just and a brave man acts fearlessly and with explicitness; he does not shun, but court, the scrutiny of mankind; he lives in the face of day, and the whole world confesses the clearness of his spirit and the rectitude of his conduct. William Godwin facedaymanbrave Innocence is not virtue. Virtue demands the active employment of an ardent mind in the promotion of the general good. No man can be eminently virtuous who is not accustomed to an extensive range of reflection. William Godwin goodmanreflectionmind Let no man despise the oracles of books! A book is a dead man, a sort of mummy, embowelled and embalmed, but that once had flesh and motion and a boundless variety of determinations and actions. William Godwin deadbooksmanbook When the calamity we feared is already arrived, or when the expectation of it is so certain as to shut out hope, there seems to be a principle within us by which we look with misanthropic composure on the state to which we are reduced, and the heart sullenly contracts and accommodates itself to what it most abhorred. William Godwin expectationlookhopeheart Give energy, and mental exertion will always have attraction enough. William Godwin willalwaysenergyenough Human creatures, living in the circle of their intimates and friends, are too apt to remain in ignorance of the comments and instructions which may be made of what they say and do in the world at large. I entertain a great horror of this ignorance. William Godwin greatfriendsignoranceworld England has been called, with great felicity of conception, 'the land of liberty and good sense.' We have preserved many of the advantages of a free people, which the nations of the Continent have long since lost. William Godwin greatgoodlongpeople The most desirable state of mankind is that which maintains general security with the smallest encroachment upon individual independence. William Godwin mostsecurityindependenceindividual The extent of our progress in the cultivation of knowledge is unlimited. William Godwin ourprogressunlimitedknowledge Self-deception is so far from impossible that it is one of the most ordinary phenomena with which we are acquainted. Nothing is more usual than for a man to impute his actions to honorable motives when it is nearly demonstrable that they flowed from some corrupt and contemptible force. William Godwin nothingmanforceimpossible When we look on the roses and gaiety of youth, the mournful idea of mortality is altogether alien to our thoughts. We have heard of it as a speculation and a tale, but nothing but experience can bring it home to us. William Godwin thoughtsyouthexperiencehome
