A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
Government is a necessary evil
Interpretation
What this quote means
Government is essential for order but can often lead to tyranny or control over individuals.
Thomas Paine's quote highlights the dual nature of government as both a necessary institution for maintaining societal order and a potential source of oppression. He suggests that while governance is indispensable for the functioning of society, it often comes with the risk of overreach and abuse of power, making it a 'necessary evil' that must be carefully managed and critiqued.
Themes
GovernmentNecessary EvilPowerControlSociety
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate, one might quote Paine to emphasize the need for government oversight.
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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Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.
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