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Time Quotes by Thomas Paine

45 Time quotes by Thomas Paine

All Time quotes Thomas Paine’s page

Thomas Paine writes that difficult periods test a person's character and that nature never strays from its course, even when people lie. He argues that a nation should show the same honest virtue in peace as it does in war. He also notes that time can wear down even the strongest bodies, while guilt acts like a poison.

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Time makes more converts than reason.

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These are the times that try men's souls.

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Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its…

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Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'tis time…

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When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to…

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Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch.

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These are times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service…

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Nothing, they say is more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of dying

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Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals.

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Let the world see that this nation can bear prosperity; and that her honest virtue in time of peace is equal to…

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These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the…

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Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have…

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How strangely is antiquity treated! To answer some purposes it is spoken of as the times of darkness and ignorance, and to…

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“It is difficult beyond description to conceive that space can have no end; but it is more difficult to conceive an end.…

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I fear not, I see not reason for fear. In the end we will be the victors. For though at times the…

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“These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the…

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It is never to be expected in a revolution that every man is to change his opinion at the same moment. There…

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“Error in opinion has this peculiar advantage with it, that the foremost point of the contrary ground may at any time be…

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“We know the cause which we are engaged in, and though a passionate fondness for it may make us grieve at every…

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Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course or that a man should tell a lie? We have…

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The only idea man can affix to the name of God, is that of a first cause, the cause of all things.…

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There never did, there never will, and there never can exist a parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of…

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“The answer of Solon on the question, 'Which is the most perfect popular govemment,' has never been exceeded by any man since…

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“Later times have laid all the blame upon the Goths and Vandals, but, however unwilling the partizans of the Christian system may…

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“I remember the late Admiral Saunders declaring in the House of Commons, and that in the time of peace, 'That the city…

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“There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express command of God, that are as shocking to humanity,…

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“I have now gone through the examination of the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; and when it is…

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“There never did, there never will, and there never can, exist a Parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of…

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“There are certain circumstances, which, at the time of their happening, are a kind of riddles, and as every riddle is to…

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“There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express command of God, that are as shocking to humanity,…

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“Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the sword; but of what period of time do they speak? It was…

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Death is not the monarch for the dead, but of the dying. The moment he obtains a conquest he loses a subject.

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The times that tried men's souls are over-and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily accomplished.

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I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.

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How necessary it is at all times to watch against the attempted encroachment of power, and to prevent its running to excess.

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Paper money is like dram-drinking, it relieves for a moment by deceitful sensation, but gradually diminishes the natural heat, and leaves the…

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Never, I say, had a country so many openings to happiness as this… Her cause was good. Her principles just and liberal.…

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“That advice should be taken wherever example has failed, or precept be regarded where warning is ridiculed, is like a picture of…

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A government of our own is our natural right; and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he…

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These proceedings may at first seem strange and difficult, but like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in…

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More by Thomas Paine

“No man is prejudiced in favour of a thing, knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it on the belief of its…

“The laws of every country must be analogous to some common principle.”

The book called the Bible has been voted by men, and decreed by human laws to be the word of God; and the disbelief…

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

One would think that a system loaded with such gross and vulgar absurdities as Scripture religion is could never have obtained credit; yet we…

Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defence.

What is it the Bible teaches us? - raping, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? - to believe that…

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

“It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, and of all Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on…

But there are times when men have serious thoughts, and it is at such times, when they begin to think, that they begin to…

Wisdom is not the purchase of a day

Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter…

Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.

“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…

What more does man want to know than that the hand or power that made these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe…