"It is impossible for any man, when the most favourable circumstances concur, to acquire sufficient knowledge and strength of mind to discharge the duties of a king, entrusted with uncontrolled power; how then must they be violated when his very elevation is an insuperable bar to the attainment of either wisdom or virtue; when all the feelings of a man are stifled by flattery, and reflection shut out by pleasure! Surely it is madness to make the fate of thousands depend on the caprice of a weak fellow creature, whose very station sinks him NECESSARILY below the meanest of his subjects! But one power should not be thrown down to exalt another--for all power intoxicates weak man; and its abuse proves, that the more equality there is established among men, the more virtue and happiness will reign in society."
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Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was an English social philosopher and pioneering advocate of women's rights. She married the anarchist philosopher William Godwin, but died soon after the birth of their daughter Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley).
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