Thomas Paine was an American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He is the founding father of the United States. Here we have shared Thomas Paine quotes on freedom, democracy, common sense, religion, reason, government, rights of man, tyranny, inspirational, and motivational.
Thomas Paine was born on February 9, 1737, in Thetford, United Kingdom, and died on June 8, 1809, in Greenwich Village, New York, United States. His spouse name Mary Lambert (m. 1759), Elizabeth Ollive (m. 1771; separated 1774).
Thomas Paine quotes
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities. – Thomas Paine
Every religion is good that teaches man to be good, and I know of none that instructs him to be bad. – Thomas Paine
Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one’s own efforts. – Thomas Paine
Titles are but nicknames and every nickname is a title. – Thomas Paine
Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one. – Thomas Paine
Human nature is not of itself vicious. – Thomas Paine
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
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
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good. – Thomas Paine
Time makes more converts than reason. – Thomas Paine
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
There are matters in the Bible, said to be done by the express commandment of God, that are shocking to humanity and to every idea we have of moral justice. – Thomas Paine
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. – Thomas Paine
‘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
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum. – Thomas Paine
My mind is my own church. – Thomas Paine
There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord. – Thomas Paine
Suspicion is the companion of mean souls and the bane of all good society. – Thomas Paine
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. – Thomas Paine
When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. – Thomas Paine
Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice. – Thomas Paine
He who is the author of a war lets lose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death. – Thomas Paine
It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance. – Thomas Paine
One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests. – Thomas Paine
Persecution is not an original feature in any religion, but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. – Thomas Paine
Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us. – Thomas Paine
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. – Thomas Paine
It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes. – Thomas Paine
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. – Thomas Paine
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. – Thomas Paine
Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true. – Thomas Paine
The strength and power of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resistance. – Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture. – Thomas Paine
The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion. – Thomas Paine
It is error only, and not the truth, that shrinks from inquiry. – Thomas Paine
When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon. – Thomas Paine
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right. – Thomas Paine
That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not. – Thomas Paine
That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. – Thomas Paine
To say that any people are not fit for freedom is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not. – Thomas Paine
Reason obeys itself, and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. – Thomas Paine
Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst. – Thomas Paine
Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it. – Thomas Paine
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he is 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
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy against oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. – Thomas Paine
Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property… Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them. – Thomas Paine
The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy. – Thomas Paine
He that rebels against reason are a real rebel, but he that in defense of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title to Defender of the Faith, than George the Third. – Thomas Paine
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
But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing. – Thomas Paine
The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security. – Thomas Paine
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection. – 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
An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot. – Thomas Paine
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy. – Thomas Paine
Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man. – Thomas Paine
War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end; it has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes. – Thomas Paine
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
Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them. – Thomas Paine
The abilities of man must fall short on one side or the other, like too scanty a blanket when you are abed. If you pull it up on your shoulders, your feet are left bare; if you thrust it down to your feet, your shoulders are uncovered. – Thomas Paine
We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities. – Thomas Paine
It is the direction and not the magnitude that is to be taken into consideration. – Thomas Paine
It is with a pious fraud as with a bad action; it begets a calamitous necessity of going on. – Thomas Paine
Lead, follow or get out of the way. – Thomas Paine
He is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage but forgets the dying bird. – Thomas Paine
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
Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch. – Thomas Paine
The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind. – Thomas Paine
The final event to himself has been, that as he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick. – Thomas Paine
A man does not serve God when he prays, for it is himself he is trying to serve. – Thomas Paine
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