Date: 1793

"Law may be supposed to have been constructed in the tranquil serenity of the soul, a suitable monitor to check the inflamed mind with which the recent memory of ills might induce us to proceed to the exercise of coercion"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"The present ruling passion of the human mind is the love of distinction. "

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"The equalisation we are describing is farther indebted for its empire in the mind to the ideas with which it is attended of personal happiness."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"If mind be now in a great degree the ruler of the system, why should it be incapable of extending its empire?"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"the selfish are not governed solely by sensual gratification or the love of gain, but that the desire of eminence and distinction is in different degrees an universal passion"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"Reason is the only legislator, and her decrees are irrevocable and uniform."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1794

I may act "in obedience to the principle which at present governed me with absolute dominion"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1794

"I would not shackle you with fetters of suspicion; I would have you governed by justice and reason."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1798

"Women have a frame of body more delicate and susceptible of impression than men, and, in proportion as they receive a less intellectual education, are more unreservedly under the empire of feeling."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1798

"Wounded affection, wounded pride, all those principles which hold absolute empire in the purest and loftiest minds, urged her to still further experiments to recover her influence, and to a still more poignant desparation, long after reason would have directed her to desist, and resolutely call ...

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)