Thomas Paine Quotes

Character is much easier kept than recovered.

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

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.

My mind is my own church.

Time makes more converts than reason.

Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.

Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.

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 harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. 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 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.

Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.

Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by God to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that their Word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that their Word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of those churches accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them all.

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.

One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.

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.

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.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.

All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for impostors to preach and fools to believe.

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.

When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.

Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.

Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all others, the most improper to defend us.

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.

It is the duty of every true Deist to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible.

...for though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.

But such is the irresistable nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing.

The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

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.

Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad.

One would think that a system loaded with such gross and vulgar absurdities as Scripture religion is could never have obtained credit; yet we have seen what priestcraft and fanaticism can do, and credulity believe.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection

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.

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.

Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'tis time to part.

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.

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.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Human nature is not of itself vicious.

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.

Man must go back to nature for information.

It is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be taken into consideration.

Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it.

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.

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.

The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion.

We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities.

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.

Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch.

The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.

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.