Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad.
"Thomas Paine" was an English and American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary. As the author of the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, he inspired the Patriot (American Revolution)/rebels in 1776 to declare independence from Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era rhetoric of transnational human rights. He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination".
Born in Thetford, England, in the county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. Virtually every rebel read (or listened to a reading of) his powerful pamphlet Common Sense (pamphlet)/Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American title which crystallized the rebellious demand for independence from Great Britain. His The American Crisis (1776–83) was a prorevolutionary pamphlet series. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said, "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."
If you enjoy these quotes, be sure to check out other famous writers! More Thomas Paine on Wikipedia.Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.
When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives everything its value.
These are the times that try men's souls.
If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly... it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness.
Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.
Human nature is not of itself vicious.
Such is the irresistible nature of truth that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
I fear not, I see not reason for fear. In the end we will be the victors. For though at times the flame of liberty may cease to shine, the ember will never expire.
When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir. It was time for every man to stir.
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government.
'What is it the Bible teaches us? - rapine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the 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.
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