“Ministers become a sort of miniature kings in their turn. Though they have the greatest opportunity o observing the impotence and unmeaningness of the character, they envy it. It is their trade perpetually to extol the dignity and importance of the master they serve; and men cannot long anxiously endeavor to convince others of the truth of any proposition without becoming half convinced themselves.”

Book V, Ch. 5
Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)

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William Godwin 36
English journalist, political philosopher and novelist 1756–1836

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