Thomas Paine quotes page 1

1737 - 1809, English-American author, revolutionary and political activist

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of
supporting it.
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

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
Thomas Paine

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

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

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

The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.
Thomas Paine

It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.
Thomas Paine

The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called
Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun.
Thomas Paine

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

Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
Thomas Paine

Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe
what he does not believe.
Thomas Paine

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
Thomas Paine

Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.
Thomas Paine

A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is
monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.
Thomas Paine

One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature
disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind
an ass for a lion.
Thomas Paine

Let them call me a rebel and welcome. I feel no concern from it. But should I suffer the misery
of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul.
Thomas Paine

Man is not the enemy of man but through the medium of a false system of government.
Thomas Paine

The atheist who affects to reason, and the fanatic who rejects reason, plunge themselves
alike into inextricable difficulties.
Thomas Paine

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
Thomas Paine

That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the
quarrels of nations is as shocking as it is true.
Thomas Paine

The Grecians and Romans were strongly possessed of the spirit of liberty but not the
principle, for at the time they were determined not to be slaves themselves, they employed
their power to enslave the rest of mankind.
Thomas Paine

A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation.
Thomas Paine

I consider the war of America against Britain as the country's war, the public's war, or the
war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the
protection of their own property.
Thomas Paine

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

When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
Thomas Paine

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in
this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the
love and thanks of man and woman.
Thomas Paine

It is a general idea, that when taxes are once laid on, they are never taken off.
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

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
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

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of
supporting it.
Thomas Paine

Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
Thomas Paine

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by
anybody.
Thomas Paine

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