“As politicians we ought not so much to ground our hopes on the reasonableness of the thing we ask, as on the… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness. Society promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, government negatively… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“What Archimedes said of the mechanical powers, may be applied to Reason and Liberty: "Had we," said he, "a place to stand… — 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
“A substantial good drawn from a real evil, is of the same benefit to society as if drawn from a virtue; and… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“To reason with governments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
To possess ourselves of a clear idea of what government is, or ought to be, we must trace it to its origin. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“May she [United States] never forget that a fair national reputation is of as much importance as independence. That it possesses a… — 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
How necessary it is at all times to watch against the attempted encroachment of power, and to prevent its running to excess. — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter… — 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
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
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
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
They took care to represent government as a thing made up of mysteries, which only themselves understood, and they hid from the… — 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
There is something in meanness which excites a species of resentment that never subsides, and something in cruelty which stirs up the… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter… — 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
It is unnatural that a pure stream should flow from a foul fountain its vices are but a continuation of the vices… — 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
