A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Government is a necessary but flawed institution, capable of both good and evil.
Thomas Paine expresses a critical view of government, asserting that while it may serve essential functions in society, it inherently possesses characteristics of evil that can lead to oppression and tyranny. Even in its most effective form, government carries the burden of necessary control, highlighting the delicate balance between order and freedom.
Themes
GovernmentEvilSocietyControlFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on political philosophy, to illustrate the complexities of governance.
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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God is within you. You yourself are your creator. If you find that place in yourself from which you brought this thing about, you will be able to live with it and affirm it, perhaps even enjoy it, as your life.
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Philosophy takes as her aim the state of happiness...she shows us what are real and what are only apparent evils. She strips men's minds of empty thinking, bestows a greatness that is solid and administers a check to greatness where it is puffed up and all an empty show; she sees that we are left no doubt about the difference between what is great and what is bloated.
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Our conscious motivations, ideas, and beliefs are a blend of false information, biases, irrational passions, rationalizations, prejudices, in which morsels of truth swim around and give the reassurance albeit false, that the whole mixture is real and true. The thinking processes attempt to organize this whole cesspool of illusions according to the laws of plausibility. This level of consciousness is supposed to reflect reality; it is the map we use for organizing our life.
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From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people.
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It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the Moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.
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I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which he made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us.
David LivingstoneRead