Quote

Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.

Thomas Paine

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Thomas Paine
Age: 72 †
Born: 1737
Born: January 29
Died: 1809
Died: June 8
Author
Entrepreneur
Journalist
Opinion Journalist
Philosopher
Politician
Prosaist
Writer
Thetford
Norfolk
Capable
Governed
Objects
Protecting
Small
Continents
Care
Island
Take
Islands
Something
Kingdoms
Supposing
Proper
Perpetually
Absurd
Continent

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I disbelieve all holy men and holy books.
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Moderation in temper is always a virtue but moderation in principle is always a vice.
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The idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries and as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet-laureat.
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The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.
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The graceful pride of truth knows no extremes, and preserves, in every latitude of life, the right-angled character of man.
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Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
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Men did not make the earth... It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. ... Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds.
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When it becomes necessary to do a thing, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it.
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In the progress of politics, as in the common occurrences of life, we are not only apt to forget the ground we have travelled over, but frequently neglect to gather up experiences as we go.
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I fear not, I see not reason for fear. In the end we will be the victors. For though at times the flame of liberty may cease to shine, the ember will never expire.
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Tears may soothe the wounds they cannot heal.
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Priests and conjurors are of the same trade.
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It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes.
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Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil in its worst state, an intolerable one.
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Civil rights are those which appertain to man in right of his being a member of society. Every civil right has for its foundation some natural right pre-existing in the individual, but to the enjoyment of which his individual power is not, in all cases, sufficiently competent. Of this kind are all those which relate to security and protection.
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We must be compelled to hold this doctrine to be false, and the old and new law called the Old and New Testament, to be impositions, fables and forgeries.
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Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.
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The countries the most famous and the most respected of antiquity are those which distinguished themselves by promoting and patronizing science, and on the contrary those which neglected or discouraged it are universally denominated rude and barbarous.
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All the religions known in the world are founded, so far as they relate to man or the unity of man, as being all of one degree. Whether in heaven or in hell, or in whatever state man may be supposed to exist hereafter, the good and the bad are the only distinctions.
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