Quotes by Thomas Paine

"Persecution is not an original feature in any religion but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law."

"I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace."

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

"Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it."

"To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches."

"The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security."

"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one."

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil in its worst state, an intolerable one."

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

"Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities."

"Every religion is good that teaches man to be good and I know of none that instructs him to be bad."

"There are matters in the Bible, said to be done by the express commandment of God, that are shocking to humanity and to every idea we have of moral justice."

"It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes."

"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man."

"He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death."

"Time makes more converts than reason."

"Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true."

"He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in defence of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title to Defender of the Faith, than George the Third."

"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."

"It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry."

"But such is the irresistable nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing."

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

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion."

"Reputation is what men and women think of us character is what God and angels know of us."

"These are the times that try men's souls."

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

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

"The greatest remedy for anger is delay."

"I believe in the equality of man and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy."

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

"The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance."

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

"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."

"Human nature is not of itself vicious."

"Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles he can only discover them."

"Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society."

"'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."

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

"One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests."

"It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."