Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man. Thomas Paine More Quotes by Thomas Paine More Quotes From Thomas Paine Time makes more converts than reason. Thomas Paine motivation time life Government ought to be as much open to improvement as anything which appertains to man, instead of which it has been monopolized from age to age, by the most ignorant and vicious of the human race. Need we any other proof of their wretched management, than the excess of debts and taxes with which every nation groans, and the quarrels into which they have precipitated the world?" Thomas Paine ignorant race men 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 motivation money wisdom Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. Thomas Paine government kings country It appears to general observation, that revolutions create genius and talents; but those events do no more than bring them forward. There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition, to the grave. As it is to the advantage of society that the whole of its faculties should be employed, the construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails to appear in revolutions. Thomas Paine events men lying I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when disordered. Thomas Paine government simple art 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 political sight men The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again. Thomas Paine sublime steps class The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense. Thomas Paine common-sense christian religion Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins ... Society is in every state a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. Thomas Paine government blessing evil There exists in man a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition,to the grave. Thomas Paine action men lying Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Thomas Paine cities winter country The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world not destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside ... Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them ... the weak will become prey to the strong. Thomas Paine weak-will gun strong Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst. Thomas Paine atheist religious christian The American constitutions were to liberty, what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax Thomas Paine syntax liberty america The creation is the Bible of the Deist. He there reads, in the handwriting of the Creator himself, the certainty of His existence and the immutability of His power, and all other Bibles and Testaments are to him forgeries. Thomas Paine handwriting deism creation Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America. Thomas Paine mingling may america There is a happiness in Deism, when rightly understood, that is not to be found inany other system of religion. All other systems have something in them that either shock our reason, or are repugnant to it, and man, if he thinks at all, must stifle his reason in order to force himself to believe them. Thomas Paine men believe thinking The right of voting for representatives , is the primary right by which other rights are protected. Thomas Paine representatives voting rights We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities. Thomas Paine possibility motivation reason
