A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course; but we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the reliability of nature compared to the fallibility of human honesty.
In this quote, Thomas Paine argues that the consistency of nature's laws is more trustworthy than human beings' tendency to lie. He suggests that while nature operates uniformly and predictably, people have a history of deceit, highlighting the need for skepticism regarding human statements.
Themes
NatureLieTruthReliabilityDeceit
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about honesty in leadership, this quote can highlight the importance of truthfulness.
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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