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 PAINEIt is always to be taken for granted, that those who oppose an equality of rights never mean the exclusion should take place on themselves.
More Thomas Paine Quotes
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It has been the political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy, proceed with arrogance, and finish with contempt.
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Government without a constitution, is a power without a right.
THOMAS PAINE -
Every proprietor owes to the community a ground-rent for the land which he holds.
THOMAS PAINE -
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
THOMAS PAINE -
A constitution defines and limits the powers of the government it creates. It therefore follows, as a natural and also a logical result, that the governmental exercise of any power not authorized by the constitution is an assumed power, and therefore illegal.
THOMAS PAINE -
Every person of learning is finally his own teacher.
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When extraordinary power and extraordinary pay are allotted to any individual in a government, he becomes the center, round which every kind of corruption generates and forms.
THOMAS PAINE -
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 -
Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.
THOMAS PAINE -
For though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.
THOMAS PAINE -
The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.
THOMAS PAINE -
I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.
THOMAS PAINE -
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
THOMAS PAINE -
The Deist needs none of those tricks and shows called miracles to confirm his faith, for what can be a greater miracle than the creation itself, and his own existence?
THOMAS PAINE -
Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
THOMAS PAINE -
I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.
THOMAS PAINE -
Taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.
THOMAS PAINE -
I consider the war of America against Britain as the country’s war, the public’s war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.
THOMAS PAINE -
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
THOMAS PAINE -
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
THOMAS PAINE -
Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must undertake to support it.
THOMAS PAINE -
It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.
THOMAS PAINE -
I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of humans; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy.
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Men should not petition for rights, but take them.
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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 -
It is important that we should never lose sight of this distinction. We must not confuse the peoples with their governments.
THOMAS PAINE