Thomas "Tom" Paine (February 9, 1737 – 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.
Paine was also deeply involved in the early stages of the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), in part a defence of the French Revolution against its critics, in particular the British statesman Edmund Burke. Despite not speaking French, he was elected to the French National Convention in 1792. The Girondists regarded him as an ally, so, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy. In December of 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of The Age of Reason (1793–94), his book advocating deism, promoting reason and freethinking, and arguing against institutionalized religion and Christian doctrines. He also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice (1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. [source: wikipedia]
15 Thomas Paine Quotes to Enlighten the Mind
- Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
- The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.
- An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.
- Character is much easier kept than recovered.
- A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
- It is an affront to treat falsehood with complaisance.
- 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.
- 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.
- Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.
- 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.
- When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
BONUS
"Reputation is what men and women think of us;
Character is what God and angels know of us."
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment