Thomas Paine

Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.

The greatest characters the world has known, have rose on the ruins of systems.

It is better to suffer a little evil than to do a great deal of good in a wrong way.

Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to reestablish it.

The American Revolution was a war of principles, and not of property.

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.

The strength of a nation does not consist in the extent of its territory, but in the extent of its commerce.

To be well-informed is the best security against the evils of society.

It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.

The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture.

The present age will hereafter merit to be called the Age of Reason.

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

He that is not a patriot, if he has the soul of a man, must be a traitor.

It is the faculty of the human mind to think without control.

That government is best which governs least.

The true and only true God is the God of truth.

Character is much easier kept than recovered.

A man's religion is not to be inquired into, not even by the state itself.

The voice of the people is the voice of God.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.