"If men will permit themselves to think, as……" — Thomas Paine

"If men will permit themselves to think, as rational beings ought to think, nothing can appear more ridiculous and absurd, exclusive of all moral reflections, than to be at the expence of building navies, filling them with men, and then hauling them into the ocean, to try which can sink each other fastester. Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with infintely more advantage than any victory with all its expence. But this, though it best answers the purpose of Nations, does not that of Court Governments, whose habited policy is pretence for taxation, places, and offices."

— Thomas Paine

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384 Quotes by Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine has 384 quotes on this site. A few more worth reading:

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More Absurd Quotes

This quote is filed under Absurd Quotes, one of 832 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:

It is as absurd to say that a man can't love one woman all the time as it is to… — Honore de Balzac
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To be interested in food but not in food production is clearly absurd. — Wendell Berry
Refusal to believe until proof is given is a rational position; denial of all outside of our own limited experience… — Annie Besant
Rock 'n' roll is ridiculous. It's absurd. In the past, U2 was trying to duck that. Now we're wrapping our… — Bono
A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will keep him from the commission of… — Samuel Butler
When things get so absurd and so stupid and so ridiculous that you just can't bear it, you cannot help… — David Byrne
My turn of mind is so given to taking things in the absurd point of view, that it breaks out… — Lord Byron
The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth. — Albert Camus
I draw from the Absurd three consequences: my revolt, my liberty, my passion. — Albert Camus
The absurd depends as much on man as on the world. For the moment, it is all that links them… — Albert Camus
In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd. — Miguel de Cervantes

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