William Godwin - Human Quotes

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It has an unhappy effect upon the human understanding and temper, for a man to be compelled in his gravest investigation of an argument, to consider, not what is true, but what is convenient. The lawyer never yet existed who has not boldly urged an objection which he knew to be fallacious, or endeavoured to pass off a weak reason for a strong one.

William Godwin
It is absurd to expect the inclinations and wishes of two human beings to coincide, through any long period of time. To oblige them to act and live together is to subject them to some inevitable potion of thwarting, bickering, and unhappiness.

William Godwin
The great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children.

William Godwin
Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.

William Godwin
Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms.

William Godwin
There is no sphere in which a human being can be supposed to act where one mode of reasoning will not, in every given instance, be more reasonable than any other mode. That mode the being is bound by every principle of justice to pursue.

William Godwin
The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.

William Godwin