Thomas Paine — "The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason."

"To say that any People are not fit for Freedom, is to make the same excuse which every Tyrant has used for his Tyranny."

"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."

"The more perfect civilization is, the less occasion has it for government, because the more does it regulate its own affairs, and govern itself."

"The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun."

"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."