“Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.”
-Thomas Paine
If Glenn Beck says the government wants to tax your breathing under the guise of global warming legislation, that doesn't mean it's true. If Sarah Palin tells us that health care reform is an evil plot, it's more a reflection of Sarah than it is health care reform.
"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."
-Thomas Paine
"A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support."
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
More on On the Better Use of a Billion Dollars: Corporate Bailouts or Scholarships
"Time makes more converts than reason"
-Thomas Paine, Common Sense
With time comes experience, with experience, conviction.
Filed under Philosophy of Thomas Paine, The History Blog Project, Thomas Paine Common Sense by 
"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad"
-Thomas Paine
It is not the relative difficulty or ease, but the caliber of people with which we associate, that shapes the course of our lives.
"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."
-Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
Filed under Philosophy of Thomas Paine, The History Blog Project, Thomas Paine Quotes by
"But if objects for gratitude and admiration are our desire, do they not present themselves every hour to our eyes?"
-Thomas Paine, Age of Reason
Hobbes said life was nasty, brutish, and short. There is no question that life is often hard, even nasty and brutish, certainly short. Even so, if you have time for an existential crisis, then then you have reason to be grateful.
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Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.
Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
"An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates his duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
