“Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius... he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much.”

English political philosopher and novelist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Godwin is best known for his radical political writings and early advocacy of individual liberty. His 1793 treatise *An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice* laid foundational ideas for anarchism and liberalism, emphasizing reason, natural rights, and the separation of church and state. He also penned the novel *Things as They Are* (1794), an early work of social critique, and collaborated with Mary Wollstonecraft on *Thoughts on the Education of Daughters* (1787).