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Quote by Thomas Paine

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Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution

Written by Thomas Paine, this work is a comprehensive defense of the rights of man and the ideals of the French Revolution, offering a direct response to Edmund Burke's critique of the revolution. Paine argues for the natural rights of individuals and the necessity of a government based on the will of the people. more

Author

Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine, born on February 9, 1737, and died on June 8, 1809, was a prominent American writer, political figure, and philosopher during the American Revolutionary War. He is renowned for his radical democratic ideas and his contributions to the American independence movement. more

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“They took care to represent government as a thing made up of mysteries, which only themselves understood, and they hid from the understanding of the nation, the only thing that was beneficial to know, namely, that government is nothing more than a national association acting on the principles of society.”

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Book:Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution
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“The representative system of government is calculated to produce the wisest laws, by collecting wisdom where it can be found.”

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Book:The Thomas Paine Collection: Common Sense, Rights of Man, Age of Reason, An Essay on Dream, Biblical Blasphemy, Examination Of The Prophecies
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“What is called a republic, is not any particular form of government ... it is naturally opposed to the word monarchy, which means arbitrary power.”

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Book:THOMAS PAINE Ultimate Collection: Political Works, Philosophical Writings, Speeches, Letters & Biography (Including Common Sense, The Rights of Man & The Age of Reason): The American Crisis, The Constitution of 1795, Declaration of Rights, Agrarian Justice, The Republican Proclamation, Anti-Monarchal Essay, Letters to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington…
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“Government is not a trade which any man or body of men has a right to set up and exercise for his own emolument, but is altogether a trust, in right of those by whom that trust is delegated, and by whom it is always resumable. It has of itself no rights; they are altogether duties.”

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Book:Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution
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“Government has no right to make itself a party in any debates respecting the principles or mode of forming or of changing, constitutions. It is not for the benefit of those who exercise the powers of government, that constitutions, and the governments issuing from them, are established.”

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Book:Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution
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“It is not because a part of the government is elective, that makes it less a despotism, if the persons so elected, possess afterwards, as a parliament, unlimited powers. Election, in this case, becomes separated from representation, and the candidates are candidates for despotism.”

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Book:The Political Writings of Thomas Paine: Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs in the American Revolution : to which is Prefixed a Brief Sketch of the Author's Life
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