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

Thomas Paine

When it becomes necessary to do a thing, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it.
THOMAS PAINE

Heart Necessary Soul
It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.
THOMAS PAINE

Greatness Power Strength Unity
The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.
THOMAS PAINE

Government Ignorance Kind Man Trade
It is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues.
THOMAS PAINE

Easy Politics See Slave Virtue
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.
THOMAS PAINE

Believe Corruption Crime Himself Man Mindset Preparation Prostitution
If those to whom power is delegated do well, they will be respected; if not, they will be despised.
THOMAS PAINE

Hate Power Respect
Rights are not gifts from one man to another, nor from one class of men to another. It is impossible to discover any origin of rights otherwise than in the origin of man; it consequently follows that rights appertain to man in right of his existence, and must therefore be equal to every man.
THOMAS PAINE

Discover Equality Existence Gift Impossible Man Right
Government is not a trade which any man or body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his own emolument, but is altogether a trust, in right of those by whom that trust is delegated, and by whom it is always resumable. It has of itself no rights; they are altogether duties.
THOMAS PAINE

Body Government Man Right Togetherness Trust
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.
THOMAS PAINE

Administration Argument Atheist Authority Humanity Man Medicine Philosophy Reason Scripture
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.
THOMAS PAINE

Appearance Habit Reason Time Wrong
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
THOMAS PAINE

Administration Argument Death Medicine Person Reason
We repose an unwise confidence in any government, or in any men, when we invest them officially with too much, or an unnecessary quantity of, discretionary power.
THOMAS PAINE

Confidence Government Man Necessary Power
It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.
THOMAS PAINE

Ability Error Illusion Man Responsibility
It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.
THOMAS PAINE

Expectation Justice Madness Mercy Murder Trick Violence War Wolf
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.
THOMAS PAINE

Accountable Body Hold Man Trust
Men should not petition for rights, but take them.
THOMAS PAINE

Action Man Right

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

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

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