More Quotes by Thomas Paine
Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.
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.
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 not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.
There are two distinct classes of men - those who pay taxes and those who receive and live upon taxes.
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.
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.
The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.
The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.
