Whenever government assumes to deliver us from the trouble of thinking for ourselves, the only consequences it produces are those of torpor and imbecility.
William GodwinThe great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children.
William GodwinMy 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 GodwinThere must be room for the imagination to exercise its powers; we must conceive and apprehend a thousand things which we do not actually witness.
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