Thomas Paine Quotes (120 Quotes)

Now, Sir, it is impossible for serious men, to whom God has given the divine gift of reason, and who employs that reason to reverence and adore the God that gave it, it is I say, impossible for such a man to put confidence in a book that abounds with

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.

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

It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes.

Man is not the enemy of Man, but through the medium of a false system of government.

Is it popular to pay our debts, to do justice, to defend the injured and insulted country, to protect the aged and the infant, and give top liberty a land to live in Then must taxation, as the means by which these things are done, be popular likewi

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.

That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of nations, is as shocking as it is true but when those who are concerned in the government of a country, make it their study to sow discord, and cultivate prejudices between nations, it becomes the more unpardonable.

It is the object only of war that makes it honorable. And if there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engages.

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.

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.

Infidelity does not consist in believing or in disbelieving it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe.

The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.

Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one's own efforts.

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

That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

O ye that love mankind Ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth Every spot of the Old World is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe, Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her as a stranger and England hath given her warning to depart. O receive the fugitive and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.

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

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

Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.

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

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.

One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.

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.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.

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.

It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.

Character is much easier kept than recovered.

My own mind is my own church.

The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy.

Panics, in some cases, have their uses they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short the mind soon grows through them and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstone of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might have lain forever undiscovered.

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.

The American constitutions were to liberty, what a grammar is to language they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax

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.

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.

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

Time makes more converts than reason.

Man must go back to nature for information.

If a God, he could not suffer death, for immortality cannot die, and as a man his death could be no more than the death of any other person

Calvinism is the belief (1) That there are three Gods (2) That good works, or the love of our neighbor are nothing (3) That faith is every thing, and the more incomprehensible the proposition, the more merit in its faith (4) That reason in religion.

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.

What we may obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly t is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods.

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.

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 in place of a lion

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

The New Testament rests itself for credulity and testimony on what are called prophecies in the Old Testament, of the person called Jesus Christ and if there are no such things as prophecies of any such person in the Old Testament, the New Testament

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 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.