Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion.
William GodwinRead
He has no right to his life when his duty calls him to resign it. Other men are bound... to deprive him of life or liberty, if that should appear in any case to be indispensably necessary to prevent a greater evil.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that an individual's right to life can be overridden by their duty to others when preventing greater harm.
William Godwin emphasizes the moral obligation individuals have to prioritize the welfare of others, even to the extent of sacrificing their own lives when necessary. This perspective challenges conventional views of personal rights, proposing that the greater good sometimes necessitates difficult decisions, including the deprivation of one's life or liberty to prevent a more significant evil.
Themes
DutySacrificeGreater GoodMoral ObligationLifeLiberty
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about civil disobedience, this quote can illustrate the moral imperative behind sacrificing personal freedom for societal benefit.
More from William Godwin
All quotes →It is one of the oldest maxims of moral prudence: Do not, by aspiring to what is impracticable, lose the opportunity of doing the good you can effect!
William GodwinRead
When the calamity we feared is already arrived, or when the expectation of it is so certain as to shut out hope, there seems to be a principle within us by which we look with misanthropic composure on the state to which we are reduced, and the heart sullenly contracts and accommodates itself to what it most abhorred.
William GodwinRead
What are gold and jewels and precious utensils? Mere dross and dirt. The human face and the human heart, reciprocations of kindness and love, and all the nameless sympathies of our nature - these are the only objects worth being attached to.
William GodwinRead
Extraordinary circumstances often bring along with them extraordinary strength. No man knows, till the experiment, what he is capable of effecting.
William GodwinRead
Power is not happiness. Security and peace are more to be desired than a name at which nations tremble.
William GodwinRead
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