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Thomas Paine

American Revolutionary leader and pamphleteer (born in England) who supported the American colonist's fight for independence and supported the French Revolution (1737-1809). Also the Author of Common Sense, a book about the thirteen colonies and Great Britain.

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A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution is power without a right. All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must be either delegated, or assumed. There are not other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either.

– Thomas Paine

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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.

– Thomas Paine

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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.

– Thomas Paine

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Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.

– Thomas Paine

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Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad.

– Thomas Paine

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Character is much easier kept than recovered.

– Thomas Paine

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Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'Tis time to part.

– Thomas Paine

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Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'Tis time to part.

– Thomas Paine

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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

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From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms! Through the land let the sound of it flee; Let the far and the near all unite, with a cheer, In defense of our Liberty Tree

– Thomas Paine

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Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil in its worst state, an intolerable one.

– Thomas Paine

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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.

– Thomas Paine

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Human nature is not of itself vicious.

– Thomas Paine

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I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

– Thomas Paine

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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.

– Thomas Paine

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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 another this right makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.

– Thomas Paine

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It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.

– Thomas Paine

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It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.

– Thomas Paine

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It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

– Thomas Paine

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It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by ;degrees, the consequences will be the same.

– Thomas Paine

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It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government.

– Thomas Paine

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Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

– Thomas Paine

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Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

– Thomas Paine

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Such is the irresistible nature of truth that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.

– Thomas Paine

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The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

– Thomas Paine

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The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. '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.

– Thomas Paine

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The peaceable part of mankind will be continually overrun by the vile and abandoned while they neglect the means of self-defense. The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like laws discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside... Horrid mischief would ensue were (the good) deprived of the use of them ... the weak will become a prey to the strong.

– Thomas Paine

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The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.

– Thomas Paine

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The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.

– Thomas Paine

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The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

– Thomas Paine

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There are two distinct classes of men in the nation, those who pay taxes, and those who receive and live upon the taxes.

– Thomas Paine

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These are the times that try men's souls.

– Thomas Paine

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This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.

– Thomas Paine

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Those words, temperate and moderate, are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. 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 a species of vice.

– Thomas Paine

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To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

– Thomas Paine

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To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches.

– Thomas Paine

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We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

– Thomas Paine

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What we obtain too cheap we esteem too little it is dearness only that gives everything its value.

– Thomas Paine

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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.

– Thomas Paine

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When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

– Thomas Paine

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Whenever we read the obscene stories, voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortous executions, the unrelenting vindictivenes, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistant 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, and, for my part, I sincerly detest it as I detest everything that is cruel.

– Thomas Paine

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