William Godwin Quotes

William Godwin
William Godwin
English Writer
Born: Mar 3, 1756
Died: Apr 7, 1836
Great Life Love Man Men Nature
Related authors: Arthur C. Clarke D. H. Lawrence Douglas Adams Gilbert K. Chesterton John Ruskin Ricky Gervais Rudyard Kipling Thomas Paine
Occupation - pressing occupation that will not be said nay - is a sovereign remedy for grief. William Godwin
Grief Will Pressing Remedy Occupation Said Sovereign Nay
The true key of the universe is love. William Godwin
Love Key Universe True
Every boy learns more in his hours of play than in his hours of labor. In school, he lays in the materials of thinking, but in his sports, he actually thinks: he whets his faculties, and he opens his eyes. William Godwin
Sports Eyes School Every Thinking More Lays Faculties He Hours Opens Boy Learns Materials His Labor Than Play Actually Thinks
The mind of a child is no less vagrant than his steps; it pursues the gossamer and flies from object to object, lawless and unconfined, and it is equally necessary to the development of his frame that his thoughts and his body should be free from fetters. William Godwin
Thoughts Mind Free Frame Object Lawless Development Steps Equally His Than Child Should Body Flies Less Necessary
In contemplation and reverie, one thought introduces another perpetually; and it is by similarity, or the hooking of one upon the other, that the process of thinking is carried on. William Godwin
Thought Thinking Other Hooking Carried Similarity Contemplation Another Reverie Perpetually Process
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. William Godwin
Man Soul Long Become Organ Visible Those Sight Must Remain Remark Does Still Substances Subtle Evanescent
The admission of one man, either hereditarily or for life only, into the place of chief of a country, is an evidence of the infirmity of man. Nature has set up no difference between a king and other men; a king, therefore, is purely the creation of our own hands. William Godwin
Life Nature Man King Men Country Own Creation Other Our Evidence No Difference One-Man Admission Purely Only Between Up Chief Hands Difference Either Place Therefore Set
No one can display or can cultivate a fervent zeal in the mere repetition of a form. William Godwin
No-One Mere Cultivate Repetition Fervent Form Display Zeal
Great changes cannot take place in the minds of generations of men without a corresponding change in their external symbols. There must be a harmony between the inner and the outward condition of human beings, and the progress of the one must keep pace with the progress of the other. William Godwin
Great Change Progress Men Other Changes Harmony Minds Must Corresponding Take Outward Generations Between Without Condition Human Human Beings Pace Cannot Place Beings Keep Inner External Symbols
Men who do not contend in earnest can have little warmth and fervor in what they undertake, and are more than half prepared to betray the cause, in the vindication of which they have engaged their services. William Godwin
Cause Men Half Earnest Betray More Contend Undertake Fervor Than Which Little Warmth Engaged Who Prepared Vindication Services
There is nothing that human imagination can figure brilliant and enviable that human genius and skill do not aspire to realize. William Godwin
Genius Brilliant Nothing Imagination Enviable Human Realize Skill Human Imagination Aspire Figure
Was ever a great discovery prosecuted or an important benefit conferred upon the human race by him who was incapable of standing and thinking and feeling alone? William Godwin
Alone Great Feeling Important Thinking Benefit Prosecuted Him Discovery Conferred Human Race Incapable Standing Who Human Race Ever
In the graver and more sentimental communication of man and man, the head still bears the superior sway; in the unreserved intimacies of man and woman, the heart is ever uppermost. Feeling is the main thing, and judgment passes for little. William Godwin
Man Woman Heart Communication Superior Feeling Judgment More Bears Main Head Main Thing Still Passes Little Sway Sentimental Ever Thing
There is an indescribable something that ties us to life. For this purpose, it is not necessary that we should be happy. Though our life be almost without enjoyment, we do not consent to part with it. William Godwin
Life Be Happy Happy Our Though Indescribable Something Purpose Part Almost Ties Without Us Should Enjoyment Necessary Consent
It is indeed specially characteristic of the passion of love that it has the faculty of giving a perpetual flow to the interchange of sentiments and reflections in conversation. William Godwin
Love Conversation Passion Giving Indeed Characteristic Faculty Perpetual Reflections Interchange Sentiments Flow
There is a class of persons whose souls are essentially non-conductors to the electricity of sentiment, and whose minds seem to be filled with their own train of thinking, convictions, and purposes to the exclusion of everything else. William Godwin
Class Own Sentiment Convictions Thinking Else Everything Minds Everything Else Seem Purposes Exclusion Souls Train Essentially Persons Electricity Filled Whose
How different a creature is man in society and man in solitude! William Godwin
Man Solitude Society How Different Creature
Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the influence of desire. William Godwin
Perseverance Active Operate Principle Continue Influence Cannot Desire
As the true object of education is not to render the pupil the mere copy of his preceptor, it is rather to be rejoiced in, than lamented, that various reading should lead him into new trains of thinking. William Godwin
Education Reading Thinking Pupil Object Rather Various Lead Mere True New Render Him His Than Trains Should Copy
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
Day Man World Face Spirit Fearlessly He Rectitude Clearness Court Does His Conduct Brave Brave Man Just Mankind Scrutiny Whole Acts Lives Shun
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
Good Man Reflection Mind Active Innocence Virtue Virtuous Range Promotion General Ardent General Good Demands Employment Accustomed Who Extensive
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
Hope Heart Expectation State Out Feared Composure Seems Calamity Look Most Principle Within Reduced Arrived Contracts Itself Which Us Certain Shut
There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination. William Godwin
Love Passion Imagination No Love Where Consequence
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
Good Great People Liberty Free Long Lost Sense Preserved Has-Been Good Sense Free People Advantages Since Felicity Conception Continent Been Nations Which Land England Many
Enthusiasm is always an interesting spectacle. When it expresses itself with an honest and artless eloquence, it is difficult to listen to it and not, in some degree, to catch the flame. William Godwin
Degree Enthusiasm Flame Difficult Eloquence Some Catch Always Itself Listen Interesting Expresses Spectacle Honest
Everything in the world is conducted by gradual process. This seems to be the great principle of harmony in the universe. William Godwin
Great World Universe Harmony Everything Seems Great Principle Principle Gradual Process
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