All men can understand what representation is; and that it must necessarily include a variety of knowledge and talents. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Beware the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
If those to whom power is delegated do well, they will be respected; if not, they will be despised. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquerors, and the third of reason. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous consciousness of honor. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
From such beginnings of governments, what could be expected, but a continual system of war and extortion? — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“In despotic governments wars are the effect of pride; but in those governments in which they become the means of taxation, they… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
It is important that we should never lose sight of this distinction. We must not confuse the peoples with their governments... — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an hereditary… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state. The construction of government ought to be such… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of Government. Instead, therefore, of exclaiming against… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
A constitution defines and limits the powers of the government it creates. It therefore follows, as a natural and also a logical… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Government is not a trade which any man or body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It has its origin in the principles… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happinesspositively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“When the tumult of war shall cease, and the tempest of present passions be succeeded by calm reflection, or when those, who,… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Those words, temperate and moderate, are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing, moderately good is not… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“I remember the late Admiral Saunders declaring in the House of Commons, and that in the time of peace, 'That the city… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express command of God, that are as shocking to humanity,… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“I. Men are born, and always continue, free and equal in respect of their rights. Civil distinctions, therefore, can be founded only… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“Were government a mere manufacture or article of commerce, immaterial by whom it should be made or sold, we might as well… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“When men are spoken of as kings and subjects, or when Government is mentioned under the distinct and combined heads of monarchy,… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“If there is a country in the world where concord, according to common calculation, would be least expected, it is America. Made… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“In casting our eyes over the world, it is extremely easy to distinguish the governments which have arisen out of society, or… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“There never did, there never will, and there never can, exist a Parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Government," says Swift, "is a plain thing, and fitted to the capacity of many heads. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The people of America are a people of property; almost every man is a freeholder. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The more acquisitions the government makes abroad, the more taxes the people have to pay at home. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
It will be proper to take a review of the several sources from which governments have arisen, and on which they have… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“No man is prejudiced in favour of a thing, knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it on the belief of its… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
The book called the Bible has been voted by men, and decreed by human laws to be the word of God; and the disbelief… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. — Thomas Paine Copy Share
One would think that a system loaded with such gross and vulgar absurdities as Scripture religion is could never have obtained credit; yet we… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
What is it the Bible teaches us? - raping, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? - to believe that… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. — Thomas Paine Copy Share
“It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, and of all Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
But there are times when men have serious thoughts, and it is at such times, when they begin to think, that they begin to… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. — Thomas Paine Copy Share
“To pass from the extremes of danger to safety-from the tumult of war to the tranquility of peace, though sweet in contemplation, requires a… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
What more does man want to know than that the hand or power that made these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe… — Thomas Paine Copy Share
