Date: 1793
"Again, the only means by which truth, however immutable in its own nature, can be communicated to the human mind is through the inlet of the senses. It is perhaps impossible that a man shut up in a cabinet can ever be wise"
preview | full record— Godwin, William (1756-1836)
Date: 1794
"Every person of learning is finally his own teacher; the reason of which is, that principles, being of a distinct quality to circumstances, cannot be impressed upon the memory; their place of mental residence is the understanding, and they are never so lasting as when they begin by conception."
preview | full record— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)
Date: 1798
"I believe it may be admitted as a maxim, that no person of a well furnished mind, that has shaken off the implicit subjection of youth, and is not the zealous partizan of a sect, can bring himself to conform to the public and regular routine of sermons and prayers."
preview | full record— Godwin, William (1756-1836)
Date: 1831
"We spurn at the bounds of time and space; nor would the thought be less futile that imagines to imprison the mind within the limits of the body, than the attempt of the booby clown who is said within a thick hedge to have plotted to shut in the flight of an eagle"
preview | full record— Godwin, William (1756-1836)
Date: 1831
"The body is apprehended as no more important and of intimate connection to a man engaged in a train of reflections, than the house or apartment in which he dwells"
preview | full record— Godwin, William (1756-1836)
Date: 1831
"On set occasions and at appropriate times we examine our stores, and ascertain the various commodities we have, laid up in our presses and our coffers. Like the governor of a fort in time of peace, which was erected to keep out a foreign assailant, we occasionally visit our armoury, and take acc...
preview | full record— Godwin, William (1756-1836)
Date: 1831
"Hence arises the notion, which has been entertained ever since the birth of reflection and logical discourse in the world, and which in some faint and confused degree exists probably even among savages, that the body is the prison of the mind"
preview | full record— Godwin, William (1756-1836)
Date: 1831
"The human mind is a creature of celestial origin, shut up and confined in a wall of flesh"
preview | full record— Godwin, William (1756-1836)