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Reason Quotes by Thomas Paine

44 Reason quotes by Thomas Paine

All Reason quotes Thomas Paine’s page

Thomas Paine warns that arguing with someone who has given up reason is as useless as giving medicine to the dead. He mocks religious claims that hide power and profit, calling them a kind of modern idolatry. He also trusts that nature never lies, so reason stays the best guide.

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The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.

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It is only by the exercise of reason that man can discover God.

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Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.

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Time makes more converts than reason.

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The choicest gift of God [is] the gift of reason.

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In Deism our reason and our belief are happily united.

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I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.

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“The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never…

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The error of those who reason by precedents drawn from antiquity, respecting the rights of man, is that they do not go…

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I would give worlds, if I had them, if The Age of Reason had never been published. O Lord, help! Stay with…

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We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities.

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It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes.

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

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Before anything can be reasoned upon to a conclusion, certain facts, principles, or data, to reason from, must be established, admitted, or…

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“He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right…

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To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in…

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In Deism our reason and our belief become happily united. The wonderful structure of the universe, and everything we behold in the…

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He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in defence of reason rebels against tyranny has a better…

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Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man,…

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

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“To reason with governments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves…

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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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“PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of…

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Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man,…

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In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to…

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As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of Atheism — a sort of religious denial…

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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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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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It is often said in the Bible that God spake unto Moses, but how do you know that God spake unto Moses?…

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“It is only by the exercise of reason that man can discover God. Take away that reason, and he would be incapable…

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The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquerors, and the third of reason.

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When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute the yell…

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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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...Thomas did not believe the resurrection [John 20:25], and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular and manual demonstration himself.…

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Reason and Ignorance, the opposites of each other, influence the great bulk of mankind. If either of these can be rendered sufficiently…

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The choicest gift of God to man, the gift of reason; and having endeavoured to force upon himself the belief of a…

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A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a…

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Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to…

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“The Christian theory is little else than the idolatry of the ancient mythologists, accommodated to the purposes of power and revenue; and…

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All this [Paul's writing] is nothing better than the jargon of a conjurer who picks up phrases he does not understand to…

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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…