Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk
Thomas Paine Author
Gender: Male
Citizenship: United States
Born: Feb 9, 1737
Died: Jun 8, 1809
Thomas Paine was an English and American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary. As the author of the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, he inspired the rebels in 1776 to declare independence from Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era rhetoric of transnational human rights. He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination".
Born in Thetford, England, in the county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. Virtually every rebel read of his powerful pamphlet Common Sense, the all-time best-selling American title which crystallized the rebellious demand for independence from Great Britain. His The American Crisis was a prorevolutionary pamphlet series. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said, "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."
Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution.
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
peace
Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.
good & society
Persecution is not an original feature in any religion but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
religion
We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
power
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
motivational
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.
fear, power & strength
It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes.
God & good
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.
best, government & society
Reputation is what men and women think of us character is what God and angels know of us.
God, men & women