Thomas Paine was an English writer, revolutionary, and political theorist. He is best known for writing the pamphlet Common Sense, which helped to inspire the American Revolution. He was also the author of the Rights of Man and The Age of Reason, which were influential in the French Revolution.
What is the most famous quote by Thomas Paine ?
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
— Thomas Paine
What can you learn from Thomas Paine (Life Lessons)
- Thomas Paine taught that everyone should think for themselves and question authority, as well as stand up for their beliefs and fight for justice.
- He also believed that knowledge should be shared and that everyone should have access to education and the right to pursue their own happiness.
- Finally, he encouraged people to work together to create a better future and to never give up in the face of adversity.
The most perspective Thomas Paine quotes that are easy to memorize and remember
Following is a list of the best Thomas Paine quotes, including various Thomas Paine inspirational quotes, and other famous sayings by Thomas Paine.
The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
The duty of a true Patriot is to protect his country from its government.
I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.
Reason obeys itself, and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
[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 profit.
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.
No country can be called free which is governed by an absolute power;
and it matters not whether it be an absolute royal power or an absolute legislative power, as the consequences will be the same to the people.
The duty of a true patriot is to protect his country from government.
He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
Revolutionary quotes by Thomas Paine
I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Religion is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel.
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
Belief in a cruel god makes a cruel man.
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
Rights are not gifts from one man to another, nor from one class of men to another. It is impossible to discover any origin of rights otherwise than in the origin of man; it consequently follows that rights appertain to man in right of his existence, and must therefore be equal to every man.
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.
Quotations by Thomas Paine that are influential and inspirational
We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
What is it the Bible teaches us? - raping, cruelty, and murder.
What is it the New Testament teaches us? - to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.
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.
These are the times that try men's souls.
These are the times that try men's souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
There are two distinct classes of men - those who pay taxes and those who receive and live upon taxes.
One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.
Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.
We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute.
The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed.
Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind.
When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness.
Each government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue and ambition, as a means of heating the imagination of their respective nations, and incensing them to hostilities. Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of government.
...It would be more consistent that we call [the Bible] the work of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
In a chariot of light from the region of the day, the Goddess of Liberty came. She brought in her hand as a pledge of her love, the plant she named Liberty Tree.
The American constitutions were to liberty, what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax
The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world not destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside ... Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them ... the weak will become prey to the strong.
The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety.
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 duty of a true patriot is to protect his country from government.
The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.
Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
When all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect.
The creation is the Bible of the Deist. He there reads, in the handwriting of the Creator himself, the certainty of His existence and the immutability of His power, and all other Bibles and Testaments are to him forgeries.
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.
I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
The moral duty of man consists of imitating the moral goodness and beneficence of God, manifested in the creation towards all his creatures. Everything of persecution and revenge between man and man, and everything of cruelty to animals is a violation of moral duty
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.