A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Paine criticizes revealed religion, arguing that it has led to significant suffering and cruelty throughout history.
In this quote, Thomas Paine expresses his strong opposition to revealed religion, highlighting the negative consequences it has had on humanity. He suggests that many of the worst atrocities and suffering in human history can be traced back to the influences of religious beliefs presented as divine revelation, implying that such faith systems can lead to moral corruption and societal harm.
Themes
ReligionRevelationSufferingAtrocitiesCriticismPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on the role of religion in society, this quote can be used to highlight the potential dangers of dogmatic belief systems.
More from Thomas Paine
All quotes βThat God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
Thomas PaineRead
I consider the war of America against Britain as the country's war, the public's war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.
Thomas PaineRead
Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
Thomas PaineRead
The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.
Thomas PaineRead
To reason with goverments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected
Thomas PaineRead
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