Date: 1793

In a just society "understanding would convert into a real power, no longer an ignis fatuus, shining and expiring by turns, and leading us into sloughs of sophistry, false science and specious mistake"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

The author can't understand an afterlife "where the mind, doomed to everlasting inactivity, shall be wholly a prey to the upbraidings of remorse and the sarcasms of devils, is so foreign to the system of things with which I am acquainted"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"Purify your mind from the gross ideas of sense, and elevate it to the single contemplation of that abstract individual of which particular men are so many detached members, valuable only for the place they fill"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"The genuine and wholsome state of mind is, to be unloosed from shackles, and to expand every fibre of its frame according to the independent and individual impressions of truth upon that mind."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"It was from a view of this truth that the poets derived their fictions respecting the early history of mankind; well aware that, when luxury was introduced and the springs of mind unbent, it would be a vain expectation that should hope to recal men from passion to reason, and from effeminacy to ...

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"The tendency of all false systems of political institution is to render the mind lethargic and torpid."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"It is of great importance that this idea should be extirpated."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"Mind will never arrive at the true tone of energy, till we feel that moral liberty and discretion are mere creatures of the imagination"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"Religion is a principle which the practice of all ages has deeply impressed upon the mind."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"But it is certain that truth is adequate to awaken the mind without the aid of adversity"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)