Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Thomas Paine

Quote by Thomas Paine

“Each government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue and ambition, as a means of heating the imagination of their respective nations, and incensing them to hostilities. Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of government.”

Quote by Thomas Paine

Create image

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

You May Also Like

“It is for the good of nations, and not for the emolument or aggrandizement of particular individuals, that government ought to be established, and that mankind are at the expense of supporting it. The defects of every government and constitution both as to principle and form, must, on a parity of reasoning, be as open to discussion as the defects of a law, and it is a duty which every man owes to society to point them out.”

MenGovernmentFormLawIndividualNationsLibertyPrinciplesMankindParticularDutyOughtConstitutionEvery ManDiscussionReasoningExpensesDefectsParity
Book:Paine: Political Writings
Create image

“To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-ridden, regulated, penned up, indoctrinated, preached at, checked, appraised, seized, censured, commanded, by beings who have neither title, nor knowledge, nor virtue. To be governed is to have every operation, every transaction, every movement noted, registered, counted, rated, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, refused, authorized, indorsed, admonished, prevented, reformed, redressed, corrected.”

LawLibertyVirtueMovementTitlesOperationsTransactions
Author:Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Create image

“Creation comes before distribution - or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet we are taught to admire the second-hander who dispenses gifts he has not produced above the man who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of achievement.”

MenNeedsMadeLibertyCreationTaughtHe ManAchievementPraiseCharityCreatorAdmireDistributionFountainheadBeneficiariesActs Of Charity
Book:Ayn Rand Reader
Create image