Reason and Ignorance, the opposites of each other, influence the great bulk of mankind. If either of these can be rendered sufficiently… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however successfully it may be practiced in mixed governments, is inconsistent with the… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“But any war is harvest to such Governments, however ruinous it may be to a nation. It serves to keep up deceitful… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“That in which every man is interested, is every man's duty to support. And any burden which falls equally on all men,… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“for as we are never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of… — 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
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
“We have a perfect idea of a natural enemy when we think of the devil, because the enmity is perpetual, unalterable and… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
...the individuals themselves, each in his own personal and sovereign right, entered into a compact with each other to produce a government:… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
The representative system of government is calculated to produce the wisest laws, by collecting wisdom where it can be found. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“Nothing can appear more contradictory than the principles on which the old governments began, and the condition to which society, civilisation and… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“To understand the nature and quantity of government proper for man, it is necessary to attend to his character. As Nature created… — 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
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
A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution is… — 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
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
“The answer of Solon on the question, 'Which is the most perfect popular govemment,' has never been exceeded by any man since… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Whatever has a tendency to promote the civil intercourse of nations by an exchange of benefits is a subject as worthy of… — 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
In the first part of 'Rights of Man' I have endeavoured to show...that there does not exist a right to establish hereditary… — 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
“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
