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It may perhaps be said that it signifies nothing to a man what is done to him after he is dead but it signifies much to the living it either tortures their feelings or hardens their hearts.

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
Nothing
Torture
Done
Hearts
Heart
Perhaps
Much
Dead
Men
Either
Living
Hardens
Feelings
Tortures
May
Signifies

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Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of Government. Instead, therefore, of exclaiming against the ambition of kings, the exclamation should be directed against the principle of such governments and instead of seeking to reform the individual, the wisdom of a nation should apply itself to reform the system.
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What is called a republic, is not any particular form of government ... it is naturally opposed to the word monarchy, which means arbitrary power.
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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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There is something in meanness which excites a species of resentment that never subsides, and something in cruelty which stirs up the heart to the highest agony of human hatred.
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Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.
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Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion.
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It is a general idea, that when taxes are once laid on, they are never taken off.
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The declaration which says that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children is contrary to every principle of moral justice.
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Change of ministers amounts to nothing. One goes out, another comes in, and still the same measures, vices, and extravagances are pursued. It signifies not who is minister. The defect lies in the system. The foundation and superstructure of the government is bad. Prop it as you please, it continually sinks and ever will.
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A government on the principles on which constitutional governments arising out of society are established, cannot have the right of altering itself. If it had, it would be arbitrary. It might make itself what it pleased and wherever such a right is set up, it shows there is no constitution.
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The case, however, is, that the Bible will not bear examination in any part of it, which it would do if it was the Word of God. Those who most believe it are those who know least about it, and priests always take care to keep the inconsistent and contradictory parts out of sight.
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I know not whether taxes are raised to fight wars, or wars are fought in order to raise taxes.
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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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Character is much easier kept than recovered.
Thomas Paine
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Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
Thomas Paine
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Let them call me rebel, and welcome, I feel no concern from it.
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To possess ourselves of a clear idea of what government is, or ought to be, we must trace it to its origin.
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The more acquisitions the government makes abroad, the more taxes the people have to pay at home.
Thomas Paine
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My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
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Persecution is not an original feature in any religion but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
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