A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Truth seeks the freedom to be recognized and understood, despite the fear of challenging the status quo.
In this quote, Thomas Paine emphasizes the struggle for truth in a world where fear and oppression stifle reason and critical thought. He suggests that, despite being hunted and suppressed, truth inherently desires only the freedom to be recognized and understood, highlighting the importance of liberty in the pursuit of knowledge and justice.
Themes
FreedomTruthFearReasonLiberty
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might quote Paine to emphasize the importance of truth in overcoming fear.
More from Thomas Paine
All quotes →That 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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