Government without a constitution, is a power without a right.
THOMAS PAINEGovernment without a constitution, is a power without a right.
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.
THOMAS PAINEReputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.
THOMAS PAINEThese are the times that try men’s souls.
THOMAS PAINEGovernment is best which governs least.
THOMAS PAINEWhen 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 PAINEThe 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 PAINEHe who dares not offend cannot be honest.
THOMAS PAINESome people can be reasoned into sense, and others must be shocked into it.
THOMAS PAINEThose who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
THOMAS PAINETaxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.
THOMAS PAINEMen should not petition for rights, but take them.
THOMAS PAINEIt is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues.
THOMAS PAINEWhat is it the Bible teaches us? – raping, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? – to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.
THOMAS PAINEWhat we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
THOMAS PAINEA 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