Authors - Thomas Paine
Brief Biography
Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737 - June 8, 1809) was an English-American author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination." - Wikipedia
Quotes by Thomas PaineBrowse all of these
Quote 1019by Anonymous on 09/01/2011
That government is best which governs least.
Quote 1047by Anonymous on 10/01/2011
From such beginnings of governments, what could be expected, but a continual system of war and extortion?
Quote 1203by Anonymous on 11/01/2011
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Quote 1332by Anonymous on 12/01/2011
'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.
Quote 1542by Anonymous on 14/01/2011
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.
Quote 1670by Anonymous on 15/01/2011
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.
Quote 1698by Anonymous on 15/01/2011
But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing.
Quote 1783by Anonymous on 16/01/2011
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.
Quote 2039by Anonymous on 21/01/2011
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Quote 2574by Anonymous on 02/02/2011
Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues can but encourage one's own efforts.
Quote 3085by Anonymous on 03/02/2011
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.
Quote 3115by Anonymous on 03/02/2011
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. 'Tis dearness only that gives everything its value.
Quote 3177by Anonymous on 05/02/2011
It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.
Quote 3232by Anonymous on 05/02/2011
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
Quote 3732by Anonymous on 09/02/2011
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.
Quote 3897by Anonymous on 12/02/2011
Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.
Quote 4210by Anonymous on 17/02/2011
We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
Quote 4266by Anonymous on 18/02/2011
When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
Quote 4535by Anonymous on 22/02/2011
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.
Quote 4539by Anonymous on 23/02/2011
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.
Quote 4717by Anonymous on 26/02/2011
The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy.
Quote 4775by Anonymous on 27/02/2011
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.
Quote 5919by Anonymous on 06/09/2011
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
Quote 5996by Anonymous on 11/09/2011
Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness.
Quote 6240by Anonymous on 17/09/2011
When my country, into which I had just set my foot, was set on fire about my ears, it was time to stir. It was time for every man to stir.
Quote 10606by Anonymous on 12/10/2012
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
Quote 11174by Anonymous on 29/11/2012
Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad.
Quote 11332by Anonymous on 14/12/2012
'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.
Quote 12183by Anonymous on 15/03/2013
The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.
