--- title: "Best Government Sayings by Thomas Paine" description: "88 Government quotes by Thomas Paine. Plus more from Thomas Paine and more Government sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b30/thomas-paine-267_age_there-never-did-there-never-will-and-the_823025.jpg" --- > [There never did, there never will, and there never can exist a parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/there-never-did-there-never-will-and-there-never-can-exist-a-2/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b30/thomas-paine-267_age_there-never-did-there-never-will-and-the_823025.jpg) > [A constitution defines and limits the powers of the government it creates. It therefore follows, as a natural and also a logical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/a-constitution-defines-and-limits-the-powers-of-the-government-it/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/313/thomas-paine-267_constitution_a-constitution-defines-and-limits-the-po_1048177.png) > [Government is not a trade which any man or body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/government-is-not-a-trade-which-any-man-or-body-of-men-has-a-right-to/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e7/thomas-paine-267_body_government-is-not-a-trade-which-any-man_1216470.png) > [It has been the scheme of the Christian Church, and of all the other invented systems of religion, to hold man in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/it-has-been-the-scheme-of-the-christian-church-and-of-all-the-other/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01f/thomas-paine-267_christian_it-has-been-the-scheme-of-the-christian_65512.jpg) > [The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however successfully it may be practiced in mixed governments, is inconsistent with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-continual-whine-of-lamenting-the-burden-of-taxes-however/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/thomas-paine-267_apology_the-continual-whine-of-lamenting-the-bur_2043167.png) > [A government on the principles on which constitutional governments arising out of society are established, cannot have the right of altering itself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/a-government-on-the-principles-on-which-constitutional-governments/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2a/thomas-paine-267_arbitrary_a-government-on-the-principles-on-which_3204602.png) > [Each government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue and ambition, as a means of heating the imagination of their respective nations, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/each-government-accuses-the-other-of-perfidy-intrigue-and-ambition-as/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/thomas-paine-267_ambition_each-government-accuses-the-other-of-per_835424.jpg) > [Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of Government. Instead, therefore, of exclaiming against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/man-is-not-the-enemy-of-man-but-through-the-medium-of-a-false-system-2/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/987/thomas-paine-267_ambition_man-is-not-the-enemy-of-man-but-through_1458474.png) ## Other authors on Government - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-thomas-jefferson-90435.jpg) Thomas Jefferson 338 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/thomas-jefferson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b021/author-ronald-reagan-81107.jpg) Ronald Reagan 202 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/ronald-reagan/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b012/author-james-madison-46533.jpg) James Madison 186 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/james-madison/) - [Steven Magee 127 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/steven-magee/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-barack-obama-16275.jpg) Barack Obama 117 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/barack-obama/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-alexander-hamilton-10963.jpg) Alexander Hamilton 109 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/alexander-hamilton/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b021/author-ron-paul-81013.jpg) Ron Paul 105 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/ron-paul/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-george-washington-38054.jpg) George Washington 103 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/george-washington/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-noam-chomsky-71799.jpg) Noam Chomsky 102 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/noam-chomsky/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b021/author-rush-limbaugh-81741.jpg) Rush Limbaugh 101 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/rush-limbaugh/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-milton-friedman-68333.jpg) Milton Friedman 90 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/milton-friedman/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b002/author-ilkin-santak-7545.jpg) Ilkin Santak 90 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/ilkin-santak/) ## 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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/no-man-is-prejudiced-in-favour-of-a-thing-knowing-it-to-be-wrong-he/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“The laws of every country must be analogous to some common principle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-laws-of-every-country-must-be-analogous-to-some-common-principle/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [The book called the Bible has been voted by men, and decreed by human laws to be the word of God; and the disbelief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-book-called-the-bible-has-been-voted-by-men-and-decreed-by-human/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/to-argue-with-a-person-who-has-renounced-the-use-of-reason-is-like/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [One would think that a system loaded with such gross and vulgar absurdities as Scripture religion is could never have obtained credit; yet we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/one-would-think-that-a-system-loaded-with-such-gross-and-vulgar/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/commerce-diminishes-the-spirit-both-of-patriotism-and-military-defence/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [What is it the Bible teaches us? - raping, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? - to believe that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/what-is-it-the-bible-teaches-us-raping-cruelty-and-murder-what-is-it/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/those-who-expect-to-reap-the-blessings-of-freedom-must-like-men/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, and of all Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/it-has-been-the-practice-of-all-christian-commentators-on-the-bible/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [But there are times when men have serious thoughts, and it is at such times, when they begin to think, that they begin to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/but-there-are-times-when-men-have-serious-thoughts-and-it-is-at-such/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Wisdom is not the purchase of a day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/wisdom-is-not-the-purchase-of-a-day/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/our-citizenship-in-the-united-states-is-our-national-character-our/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/suspicion-is-the-companion-of-mean-souls-and-the-bane-of-all-good/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/to-pass-from-the-extremes-of-danger-to-safety-from-the-tumult-of-war/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [What more does man want to know than that the hand or power that made these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/what-more-does-man-want-to-know-than-that-the-hand-or-power-that-made/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/thomas-paine/#itemlist", "name": "Best Government Sayings by Thomas Paine", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There never did, there never will, and there never can exist a parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of men, in any country, possessed of the right or the power of binding and controlling posterity to the 'end of time,' or of commanding for ever how the world shall be governed, or who shall govern it. ... 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It has of itself no rights; they are altogether duties.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Paine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/government-is-not-a-trade-which-any-man-or-body-of-men-has-a-right-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e7/thomas-paine-267_body_government-is-not-a-trade-which-any-man_1216470.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e7/thomas-paine-267_body_government-is-not-a-trade-which-any-man_1216470.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e7/thomas-paine-267_body_government-is-not-a-trade-which-any-man_1216470.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Government is not a trade which any man or body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his own…” — Thomas Paine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It has been the scheme of the Christian Church, and of all the other invented systems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the Creator, as it is of Government to hold man in ignorance of his rights. The systems of the one are as false as those of the other, and are calculated for mutual support.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Paine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/it-has-been-the-scheme-of-the-christian-church-and-of-all-the-other/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01f/thomas-paine-267_christian_it-has-been-the-scheme-of-the-christian_65512.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01f/thomas-paine-267_christian_it-has-been-the-scheme-of-the-christian_65512.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01f/thomas-paine-267_christian_it-has-been-the-scheme-of-the-christian_65512.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It has been the scheme of the Christian Church, and of all the other invented systems of religion, to hold…” — Thomas Paine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however successfully it may be practiced in mixed governments, is inconsistent with the sense and spirit of a republic. If taxes are necessary, they are of course advantageous, but if they require an apology, the apology itself implies an impeachment. Why, then, is man imposed upon, or why does he impose upon himself?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Paine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-continual-whine-of-lamenting-the-burden-of-taxes-however/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/thomas-paine-267_apology_the-continual-whine-of-lamenting-the-bur_2043167.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/thomas-paine-267_apology_the-continual-whine-of-lamenting-the-bur_2043167.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/thomas-paine-267_apology_the-continual-whine-of-lamenting-the-bur_2043167.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however successfully it may be practiced in mixed…” — Thomas Paine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A government on the principles on which constitutional governments arising out of society are established, cannot have the right of altering itself. If it had, it would be arbitrary. It might make itself what it pleased; and wherever such a right is set up, it shows there is no constitution.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Paine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/a-government-on-the-principles-on-which-constitutional-governments/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2a/thomas-paine-267_arbitrary_a-government-on-the-principles-on-which_3204602.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2a/thomas-paine-267_arbitrary_a-government-on-the-principles-on-which_3204602.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2a/thomas-paine-267_arbitrary_a-government-on-the-principles-on-which_3204602.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A government on the principles on which constitutional governments arising out of society are established…” — Thomas Paine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Each government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue and ambition, as a means of heating the imagination of their respective nations, and incensing them to hostilities. Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of government.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Paine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/each-government-accuses-the-other-of-perfidy-intrigue-and-ambition-as/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/thomas-paine-267_ambition_each-government-accuses-the-other-of-per_835424.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/thomas-paine-267_ambition_each-government-accuses-the-other-of-per_835424.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/thomas-paine-267_ambition_each-government-accuses-the-other-of-per_835424.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Each government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue and ambition, as a means of heating the imagination…” — Thomas Paine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of Government. Instead, therefore, of exclaiming against the ambition of kings, the exclamation should be directed against the principle of such governments; and instead of seeking to reform the individual, the wisdom of a nation should apply itself to reform the system.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Paine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/man-is-not-the-enemy-of-man-but-through-the-medium-of-a-false-system-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/987/thomas-paine-267_ambition_man-is-not-the-enemy-of-man-but-through_1458474.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/987/thomas-paine-267_ambition_man-is-not-the-enemy-of-man-but-through_1458474.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/987/thomas-paine-267_ambition_man-is-not-the-enemy-of-man-but-through_1458474.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of Government. 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