William Godwin Novelist
- Gender: Male
- Citizenship: United Kingdom
- Born: Mar 3, 1756
- Died: Apr 7, 1836
William Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous for two books that he published within the space of a year: An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, an attack on political institutions, and Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams, which attacks aristocratic privilege, but also is the first mystery novel. Based on the success of both, Godwin featured prominently in the radical circles of London in the 1790s. In the ensuing conservative reaction to British radicalism, Godwin was attacked, in part because of his marriage to the pioneering feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft in 1797 and his candid biography of her after her death; their daughter, Mary Godwin would go on to write Frankenstein and marry the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Godwin wrote prolifically in the genres of novels, history and demography throughout his lifetime.
Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius... he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much.
learning
Let us not, in the eagerness of our haste to educate, forget all the ends of education.
education
Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands, and perpetuate its institutions.
education
There can be no passion, and by consequence no love, where there is not imagination.
imagination
Above all we should not forget that government is an evil, a usurpation upon the private judgement and individual conscience of mankind.
government