Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Men did not make the earth. It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty,… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength… — 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
They may be all comprehended under three heads - 1st, Superstition; 2d, Power; 3d, the common interests of society, and the common… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
These proceedings may at first seem strange and difficult, but like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
If, to expose the fraud and imposition of monarchy . . . to promote universal peace, civilization, and commerce, and to break… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
As my object was not myself, I set out with the determination, and happily with the disposition, of not being moved by… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
There is a happiness in Deism, when rightly understood, that is not to be found inany other system of religion. All other… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is the… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
It has been the error of the schools to teach astronomy, and all the other sciences, and subjects of natural philosophy, as… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The error of those who reason by precedents drawn from antiquity, respecting the rights of man, is that they do not go… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve into useful… — 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
Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man,… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
There exists in man a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
And to read the Bible without horror, we must undo everything that is tender, sympathizing and benevolent in the heart of man. — 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
The moral duty of man consists of imitatingthe moral goodness and beneficence of God,manifested in the creation, toward all His creatures. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to reestablish it. It is not originally a thing of itself,… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Accustom a people to believe that priests, or any other class of men can forgive sins and you will have sins in… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The animals to whom nature has given the faculty we call cunning know always when to use it, and use it wisely;… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
We repose an unwise confidence in any government, or in any men, when we invest them officially with too much, or an… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
It can only be by blinding the understanding of man, and making him believe that government is some wonderful mysterious thing, that… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Civil rights are those which appertain to man in right of his being a member of society. Every civil right has for… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The duty of man is not a wilderness of turnpike gates, through which he is to pass by tickets from one to… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The Christian religion and Masonry have one and the same common origin: Both are derived from the worship of the Sun. The… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Government ought to be as much open to improvement as anything which appertains to man, instead of which it has been monopolized… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
If any generation of men ever possessed the right of dictating the mode by which the world should be governed for ever,… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The mere man of pleasure is miserable in old age, and the mere drudge in business is but little better, whereas, natural… — 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 Image
“The laws of every country must be analogous to some common principle.” — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
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 Image
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
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 Image
Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defence. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
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 Image
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
