Government is best which governs least.
THOMAS PAINEIt 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.
More Thomas Paine Quotes
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Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
THOMAS PAINE -
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 -
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.
THOMAS PAINE -
It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.
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The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.
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 -
These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
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Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
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 -
I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.
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One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.
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The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.
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The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.
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Reason and Ignorance, the opposites of each other, influence the great bulk of mankind. If either of these can be rendered sufficiently extensive in a country, the machinery of Government goes easily on. Reason obeys itself; and Ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
THOMAS PAINE -
In Deism our reason and our belief become happily united. The wonderful structure of the universe, and everything we behold in the system of the creation, prove to us, far better than books can do, the existence of a God, and at the same time proclaim His attributes.
THOMAS PAINE