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Quote#Freedom

Mankind will never be, in an eminent degree, virtuous and happy till…

Quote byWilliam Godwin · 1756–1836

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793), Book V, Chapter 11, "Moral Effects of Aristocracy".

English (original)

Mankind will never be, in an eminent degree, virtuous and happy till each man shall possess that portion of distinction and no more, to which he is entitled by his personal merits. The dissolution of aristocracy is equally the interest of the oppressor and the oppressed. The one will be delivered from the listlessness of tyranny, and the other from the brutalizing operation of servitude.

— William Godwin

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