Words matter. These are the best Thomas Paine Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities.
The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one’s own efforts.
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
But such is the irresistable nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing.
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it.
My mind is my own church.
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.
There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord.
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
These are the times that try men’s souls.
We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities.
He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.
Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities.
My mind is my own church.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not.
Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Time makes more converts than reason.
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities.
There are matters in the Bible, said to be done by the express commandment of God, that are shocking to humanity and to every idea we have of moral justice.
There are matters in the Bible, said to be done by the express commandment of God, that are shocking to humanity and to every idea we have of moral justice.
Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it.
Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one’s own efforts.
It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance.
One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.
Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property… Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.
An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.
Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad.
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
Time makes more converts than reason.
Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.
Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.
To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.
Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.
Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad.
Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes.
Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
Human nature is not of itself vicious.
It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same.
The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them.
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord.
When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
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