12 AWESOME Quotes By Thomas Paine

Thomas "Tom" Paine (February 9, 1737 [O.S. January 29, 1736[1]] – June 8, 1809) was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination."

Born in Thetford, in the English county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), advocating colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776–1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. His writing of "Common Sense" was so influential in spurring on the Revolutionary War that John Adams reportedly said, "Without the pen of the author of 'Common Sense,' the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.” [source: wikipedia]

12 AWESOME Quotes By Thomas Paine

1. Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
   
   
2. Character is much easier kept than recovered.
   
   
3. A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
   
   
4. It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance.
   
   
5. 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.
   
   
6. Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.
   
   
7. 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.
   
   
8. 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.
   
   
9. 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.
   
   
10. 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.
    
    
11. The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.
    
    
12. When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.

BONUS

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

BONUS BONUS

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.