Thomas Paine

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

Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

My own mind is my own church.

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

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.

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason, is like administering medicine to the dead.

The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.

The rich, by consuming the produce of the labour of the poor, in fact, employ them, and give them a maintenance.

All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny.

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom.

The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.

Government, by being established on a false system, is a nursery of fraud and corruption, and needs to be reformed.

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

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

The American Crisis: These are the times that try men's souls.

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.

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.

Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of government.

The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.