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Ignorance is of a peculiar nature once dispelled, it is impossible to reestablish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant.
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
Thing
Kept
Made
Ignorance
Men
Impossible
Reestablish
Though
Dispelled
Knowledge
Originally
Nature
Peculiar
Cannot
Ignorant
May
Absence
More quotes by Thomas Paine
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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...the true greatness of a nation is founded on principles of humanity.
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Every Tory is a coward for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.
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...the individuals themselves, each in his own personal and sovereign right, entered into a compact with each other to produce a government: and this is the only mode in which governments have a right to arise, and the only principle on which they have a right to exist.
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If the present generation, or any other, are disposed to be slaves, it does not lessen the right of the succeeding generation to be free: wrongs cannot have a legal descent.
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I believe in one God, and no more and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of humans and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy.
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The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.
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The story of the whale swallowing Jonah, though a whale is large enough to do it, borders greatly on the marvelous but it would have approached nearer to the idea of a miracle if Jonah had swallowed the whale.
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War ought to be no man's wish.
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He who takes nature for his guide, is not easily beaten out of his argument
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Therefore we say that a lying Spirit has been in the mouth of the writers of the books of the Bible.
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Ye that dare oppose, not only tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth!
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Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch.
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Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority perfect equality affords no temptation.
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Accustom a people to believe that priests, or any other class of men can forgive sins and you will have sins in abundance.
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It is not the nature of avarice to be satisfied with anything but money. Every passion that acts upon mankind has a peculiar mode of operation. Many of them are temporary and fluctuating they admit of cessation and variety. But avarice is a fixed, uniform passion.
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Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
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... in free countries the law ought to be King and there ought to be no other.
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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.
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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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