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The plebeian must expect to find himself neglected and despised in proportion as he is remiss in cultivation the objects of esteem; the lord will always be surrounded with sycophants and slaves. The lord therefore has no motive to industry and exertion; no stimulus to rouse him from the lethargic 'oblivious pool', out of which every human intellect originally arose.

— William Godwin Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)

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More quotes by William Godwin

If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the collision of mind with mind.

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)

A common mortal periodically selected by his fellow-citizens to watch over their own interests, can never be supposed to possess this stupendous virtue.

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)

Privilege is a regulation rendering a few men, and those only, by the accident of their birth, eligible to certain situations.

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)

The proper method for hastening the decay of error is not by brute force, or by regulation which is one of the classes of force, to endeavour to reduce men to intellectual uniformity; but on the contrary by teaching every man to think for himself.

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)

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.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Godwin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.