I shall attempt to prove two things: first, that the actions and dispositions of mankind are the offspring of circumstances and events, and not of any original determination that they bring into the world; and, secondly, that the great stream of our voluntary actions essentially depends, not upon the direct and immediate impulses of sense, but upon the decisions of the understanding.
William GodwinLet us not, in the eagerness of our haste to educate, forget all the ends of education.
William GodwinThe philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed, is mainly derived from the act of introspection.
William GodwinThe subtleties of mathematics defecate the grossness of our apprehension, and supply the elements of a sounder and severer logic.
William GodwinWe cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.
William GodwinAs long as parents and teachers in general shall fall under the established rule, it is clear that politics and modes of government will educate and infect us all. They poison our minds, before we can resist, or so much as suspect their malignity. Like the barbarous directors of the Eastern seraglios, they deprive us of our vitality, and fit us for their despicable employment from the cradle.
William Godwin