--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But though every created thing is, in…" description: "\"But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can be applied ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/116/thomas-paine-267_antagonist_but-though-every-created-thing-is-in-thi_3166943.png" --- # But though every created thing is, in this sense, a… ![“But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can be applied to light. ... Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never…” quote by Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/116/thomas-paine-267_antagonist_but-though-every-created-thing-is-in-thi_3166943.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/116/thomas-paine-267_antagonist_but-though-every-created-thing-is-in-thi_3166943.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/116/thomas-paine-267_antagonist_but-though-every-created-thing-is-in-thi_3166943.png) > “But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can be applied to light. ... Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.” [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Moral truths are clear and not shrouded in mystery; mystery belongs to human invention that distorts truth. **In simple terms:** Truth is not mysterious. Key Takeaway Seek clarity over obscurity. Themes truth morality mystery obscurity Mood critical thought‑provoking Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - debates on ethics - political discourse - education - personal decision making Key Concepts philosophy ethics epistemology Questions to Reflect On - What “mysteries” do you use to avoid confronting moral truths? - How can clarity be promoted in ethical discussions? A Different Perspective Mysterious explanations can distract from concrete moral reasoning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Antagonist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/antagonist/) [Distortion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distortion/) [Fog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fog/) [Human inventions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-inventions/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Invention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invention/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery/) [Obscurity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obscurity/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/mystery-is-the-antagonist-of-truth-it-is-a-fog-of-human-invention/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences human invention; it is only the application of them that is human.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/it-is-a-fraud-of-the-christian-system-to-call-the-sciences-human/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [ \[A\]ll churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, are simply human inventions. They use fear to enslave us. They are a monopoly for power and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/a-ll-churches-whether-jewish-christian-or-muslim-are-simply-human/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-word-of-god-is-the-creation-we-behold-and-it-is-in-this-word/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Cultivation is at least one of the greatest natural improvements ever made by human invention. It has given to created earth a tenfold value.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/cultivation-is-at-least-one-of-the-greatest-natural-improvements-ever/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [The smallest atom of truth represents some man's bitter toil and agony; for every ponderable chunk of it there is a brave truth-seeker's grave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-smallest-atom-of-truth-represents-some-man-s-bitter-toil-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Truth is best (of all that is) good. As desired, what is being desired is truth for him who (represents) the best truth. (Gathas 27.14)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/truth-is-best-of-all-that-is-good-as-desired-what-is-being-desired-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The man who boasts that he habitually tells the truth is simply a man with no respect for it. It is not a thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-man-who-boasts-that-he-habitually-tells-the-truth-is-simply-a-man/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [My objection to organized religion is the premature conclusion to ultimate truth that it represents...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-c-clarke/my-objection-to-organized-religion-is-the-premature-conclusion-to/) [Arthur C. Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-c-clarke/) > [Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/truth-never-envelops-itself-in-mystery-and-the-mystery-in-which-it-is/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [No religion ever appeared in the world whose natural tendency was so much directed to promote the peace and happiness of mankind. It makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-st-john-1st-viscount-bolingbroke/no-religion-ever-appeared-in-the-world-whose-natural-tendency-was-so/) [Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-st-john-1st-viscount-bolingbroke/) > [There is no other species on Earth that does science. It is, so far, entirely a human invention, evolved by natural selection in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/there-is-no-other-species-on-earth-that-does-science-it-is-so-far/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Armies are a purely human invention. Most soldiers who go to war nowadays don't even do it because they're inherently aggressive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/armies-are-a-purely-human-invention-most-soldiers-who-go-to-war/) [Frans de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-de-waal/) > [In a world that has so largely engaged in a mad and often brutally harsh race for material gain by means of ruthless competition,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/in-a-world-that-has-so-largely-engaged-in-a-mad-and-often-brutally/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Think hard about the reasons for believing and not believing, what your religion teaches you and demands so inexorably that you believe. I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-meslier/think-hard-about-the-reasons-for-believing-and-not-believing-what/) [Jean Meslier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-meslier/) ## 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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/no-man-is-prejudiced-in-favour-of-a-thing-knowing-it-to-be-wrong-he/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“The laws of every country must be analogous to some common principle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-laws-of-every-country-must-be-analogous-to-some-common-principle/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [The book called the Bible has been voted by men, and decreed by human laws to be the word of God; and the disbelief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-book-called-the-bible-has-been-voted-by-men-and-decreed-by-human/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/to-argue-with-a-person-who-has-renounced-the-use-of-reason-is-like/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [One would think that a system loaded with such gross and vulgar absurdities as Scripture religion is could never have obtained credit; yet we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/one-would-think-that-a-system-loaded-with-such-gross-and-vulgar/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/commerce-diminishes-the-spirit-both-of-patriotism-and-military-defence/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [What is it the Bible teaches us? - raping, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? - to believe that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/what-is-it-the-bible-teaches-us-raping-cruelty-and-murder-what-is-it/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/those-who-expect-to-reap-the-blessings-of-freedom-must-like-men/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, and of all Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/it-has-been-the-practice-of-all-christian-commentators-on-the-bible/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [But there are times when men have serious thoughts, and it is at such times, when they begin to think, that they begin to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/but-there-are-times-when-men-have-serious-thoughts-and-it-is-at-such/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Wisdom is not the purchase of a day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/wisdom-is-not-the-purchase-of-a-day/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/our-citizenship-in-the-united-states-is-our-national-character-our/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/suspicion-is-the-companion-of-mean-souls-and-the-bane-of-all-good/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/to-pass-from-the-extremes-of-danger-to-safety-from-the-tumult-of-war/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [What more does man want to know than that the hand or power that made these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/what-more-does-man-want-to-know-than-that-the-hand-or-power-that-made/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) [Explore all 772 Thomas Paine quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) ## More Antagonist quotes > [For me, in any story that I take, the antagonist is more interesting and multi-dimensional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vetrimaaran/for-me-in-any-story-that-i-take-the-antagonist-is-more-interesting/) [Vetrimaaran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vetrimaaran/) > [Self-love . . . is the sole antagonist of virtue, leading us constantly by our propensities to self-gratification in violation of our moral duties to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/self-love-is-the-sole-antagonist-of-virtue-leading-us-constantly-by/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Evil is relative - and what I mean by that is that our villains are as complex, as deep and as compelling as any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-johns/evil-is-relative-and-what-i-mean-by-that-is-that-our-villains-are-as/) [Geoff Johns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-johns/) > [Remember that when you meet your antagonist, to do everything in a mild agreeable manner. Let your courage be keen, but, at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/remember-that-when-you-meet-your-antagonist-to-do-everything-in-a/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [We honor revelation too highly to make it the antagonist of reason, or to believe that it calls us to renounce our highest powers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-ellery-channing/we-honor-revelation-too-highly-to-make-it-the-antagonist-of-reason-or/) [William Ellery Channing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-ellery-channing/) > [It almost seems as though this roiling world is conspiring to test our patience at every turn. In fact, it is. With this in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-almost-seems-as-though-this-roiling-world-is-conspiring-to-test/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Horror itself is a bit of a bullied genre, the antagonist being literary snobbery and public misconception. And I think good horror tackles our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kealan-patrick-burke/horror-itself-is-a-bit-of-a-bullied-genre-the-antagonist-being/) [Kealan Patrick Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kealan-patrick-burke/) > [I'm a filmmaker, and I was most influenced by Hitchcock's films. How he could plant such deep enriched characters and then make us care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-haggis/i-m-a-filmmaker-and-i-was-most-influenced-by-hitchcock-s-films-how-he/) [Paul Haggis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-haggis/) > [Because the character is a fiction, he's a composite of other contributors to the science that brought this enzyme therapy through the process. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-ford/because-the-character-is-a-fiction-he-s-a-composite-of-other/) [Harrison Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-ford/) > [If you have to be the antagonist, you often have a lot more creative powers. You have a lot more color to you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-atherton/if-you-have-to-be-the-antagonist-you-often-have-a-lot-more-creative/) William Atherton > [“I mean, without the antagonist, there would be no story! It’d be like: ‘Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-hale/i-mean-without-the-antagonist-there-would-be-no-story-it-d-be-like/) [Shannon Hale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-hale/) > [“Alice started to understand why people found her repulsive. In stories, anyone who didn't look quite right, who wasn't a perfect human being, was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-byng/alice-started-to-understand-why-people-found-her-repulsive-in-stories/) [Georgia Byng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-byng/) > [Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/error-indeed-has-often-prevailed-by-the-assistance-of-power-or-force/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [We are the 1000 children of death. We're in-between, on the fence. Non-descript antagonists. I'm in-between, on the fence. Non-descript antagonist!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otep/we-are-the-1000-children-of-death-we-re-in-between-on-the-fence-non/) [Otep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otep/) > [From a real antagonist one gains boundless courage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/from-a-real-antagonist-one-gains-boundless-courage/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) [Browse all 123 Antagonist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/antagonist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can be applied to light. ... Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. 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