Quotes from William Godwin

Human depravity originates in the vices of political constitution.

Government, as it was forced upon mankind by their vices, so has it commonly been the creature of their ignorance and mistake.

I am now in the full maturity of my age and vigor of my mind. Persons of various descriptions have repeatedly solicited me to turn my mind to dramatical composition. It was, indeed, the first amusement of my thoughts in my school-boy cell.

I am an enemy to revolutions. I abhor, both from temper and from the clearest judgment I am able to form, all violent convulsions in the affairs of men.

Superior virtue must be the fruit of superior intelligence.

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.

The soul of man is one of those subtle and evanescent substances that, as long as they remain still, the organ of sight does not remark; it must become agitated to become visible.

Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire.

Let us not, in the eagerness of our haste to educate, forget all the ends of education.

Act up to the magnitude of your destiny.

The diligent scholar is he that loves himself, and desires to have reason to applaud and love himself.

It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn. The true object of juvenile education, is to provide, against the age of five and twenty, a mind well regulated, active, and prepared to learn. Whatever will inspire habits of industry and observation, will sufficiently answer this purpose.