Thomas Paine Quotes And Sayings

Thomas Paine was an English-American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, he authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, and he inspired the rebels in 1776 to declare independence from Britain.His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era rhetoric of transnational human rights.He has been called “a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination.”

An Army Of Principles Can Penetrate Where An Army Of Soldiers Cannot.

The Real Man Smiles In Trouble, Gathers Strength From Distress, And Grows Brave By Reflection.

An Army Of Principles Can Penetrate Where An Army Of Soldiers Cannot.

Those Who Want To Reap The Benefits Of This Great Nation Must Bear The Fatigue Of Supporting It.

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.

My Country Is The World, And My Religion Is To Do Good.

Reputation Is What Men And Women Think Of Us; Character Is What God And Angels Know Of Us.

Virtues Are Acquired Through Endeavor, Which Rests Wholly Upon Yourself. So, To Praise Others For Their Virtues Can But Encourage One's Own Efforts.

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.

Character Is Much Easier Kept Than Recovered.

The Abilities Of Man Must Fall Short On One Side Or The Other, Like Too Scanty A Blanket When You Are Abed. If You Pull It Upon Your Shoulders, Your Feet Are Left Bare; If You Thrust It Down To Your Feet, Your Shoulders Are Uncovered.

Those Who Expect To Reap The Blessings Of Freedom Must, Like Men, Undergo The Fatigue Of Supporting It.

The Harder The Conflict, The More Glorious The Triumph.

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.

'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.

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.

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.

It Is Not A God, Just And Good, But A Devil, Under The Name Of God, That The Bible Describes.

We Have It In Our Power To Begin The World Over Again.

Titles Are But Nicknames, And Every Nickname Is A Title.

Any System Of Religion That Has Anything In It That Shocks The Mind Of A Child, Cannot Be True.

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.

The World Is My Country, All Mankind Are My Brethren, And To Do Good Is My Religion.

Persecution Is Not An Original Feature In Any Religion; But It Is Always The Strongly Marked Feature Of All Religions Established By Law.

Suspicion Is The Companion Of Mean Souls, And The Bane Of All Good Society.

He That Rebels Against Reason Is A Real Rebel, But He That In Defence Of Reason Rebels Against Tyranny Has A Better Title To Defender Of The Faith, Than George The Third.

War Involves In Its Progress Such A Train Of Unforeseen Circumstances That No Human Wisdom Can Calculate The End; It Has But One Thing Certain, And That Is To Increase Taxes.

The Vatican Is A Dagger In The Heart Of Italy.

It Is The Direction And Not The Magnitude Which Is To Be Taken Into Consideration.

The Whole Religious Complexion Of The Modern World Is Due To The Absence From Jerusalem Of A Lunatic Asylum.

When Men Yield Up The Privilege Of Thinking, The Last Shadow Of Liberty Quits The Horizon.

What We Obtain Too Cheap, We Esteem Too Lightly; It Is Dearness Only That Gives Everything Its Value.

Time Makes More Converts Than Reason.

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.

The Most Formidable Weapon Against Errors Of Every Kind Is Reason.

But Such Is The Irresistable Nature Of Truth, That All It Asks, And All It Wants Is The Liberty Of Appearing.

Of All The Tyrannies That Affect Mankind, Tyranny In Religion Is The Worst.

That God Cannot Lie, Is No Advantage To Your Argument, Because It Is No Proof That Priests Can Not, Or That The Bible Does Not.

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.

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.

Moderation In Temper Is Always A Virtue; But Moderation In Principle Is Always A Vice.

We Can Only Reason From What Is; We Can Reason On Actualities, But Not On Possibilities.

We Can Only Reason From What Is; We Can Reason On Actualities, But Not On Possibilities.

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.

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.

My Mind Is My Own Church.

Human Nature Is Not Of Itself Vicious.

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.

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.

These Are The Times That Try Men's Souls.