Thomas Paine

• “That government is best which governs least.”
• “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”
• “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.”
• “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.”
• “Character is much easier kept than recovered.”
• “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”
• “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.”
• “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.”
• “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.”
• “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”
• “If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.”
• “It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance. ”
• “It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.”
• “It is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be taken into consideration.”
• “Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.”
• “The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.”
• “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
• “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.”