"The world is my country,
all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion."
— Thomas Paine

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
— Thomas Paine

"Attempting to debate with a person who has abandoned reason is like giving medicine to the dead."
— Thomas Paine

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."
— Thomas Paine

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."
— Thomas Paine (The American Crisis)

"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man."
— Thomas Paine

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."
— Thomas Paine (Common Sense)

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."
— Thomas Paine

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
— Thomas Paine

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
— Thomas Paine (The American Crisis)

"Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice."
— Thomas Paine

"Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us."
— Thomas Paine

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
— Thomas Paine (The American Crisis)

""The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.""
— Thomas Paine

"The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection."
— Thomas Paine

"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead."
— Thomas Paine

"Character is much easier kept than recovered."
— Thomas Paine

"Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests, but so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter."
— Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason)

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
— Thomas Paine

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value."
— Thomas Paine (Works of Thomas Paine)

"Let them call me rebel and welcome, for I should suffer the miseries of devils if I make a whore of my soul."
— Thomas Paine

"Let them call me a rebel and welcome. I feel no concern from it. But should I suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul."
— Thomas Paine

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
— Thomas Paine

"Entrepreneur’s Credo

I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon … if I can,
I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen.
Humbled and dulled by having the
State look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk;
To dream and to build.
To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life
To the guaranteed existence;
The thrill of fulfillment
To the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect.
Proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations
And to face the world boldly and say:
This, with God’s help, I have done
All this is what it means
To be an Entrepreneur.

(Excerpt from Common Sense, written in 1776 by Thomas Paine)"
— Thomas Paine

"Time makes more converts than reason."
— Thomas Paine (Common Sense)

"Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself - that is my doctrine."
— Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason)

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary."
— Thomas Paine

"The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind."
— Thomas Paine

"Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man."
— Thomas Paine (The Crisis)

""I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.""
— Thomas Paine

"These are the times that try men's souls."
— Thomas Paine

"Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness."
— Thomas Paine

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice"
— Thomas Paine (The Writings of Thomas Paine 1)

"One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests."
— Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason)

"One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion."
— Thomas Paine

"Man did not enter society to be worse off, or to have fewer rights, but rather to have those rights better secured"
— Thomas Paine

"It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. "
— Thomas Paine

"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. "
— Thomas Paine

"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates his duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
— Thomas Paine

"Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island."
— Thomas Paine (Common Sense)

"I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it."
— Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason)

"To believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at least as numerous as what we call stars, renders the Christian faith at once little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the air."
— Thomas Paine

"when men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon."
— Thomas Paine

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom."
— Thomas Paine (Common Sense)

"Belief in a cruel god creates a cruel man."
— Thomas Paine

"The greatest remedy for anger is delay."
— Thomas Paine

"For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king and there ought to be no other."
— Thomas Paine

"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall."
— Thomas Paine

""Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.""
— Thomas Paine

""Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed
and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.""
— Thomas Paine