More Quotes by Thomas Paine
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.
There are two distinct classes of men - those who pay taxes and those who receive and live upon taxes.
The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.
Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.
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 mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.
Government is best which governs least
Christianity is the strangest religion ever set up, for it committed a murder upon Jesus in order to redeem mankind from the sin of eating an apple.
When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to [profess] things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.
