Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Thomas Paine

Quote by Thomas Paine

“There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state. The construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity.”

Quote by Thomas Paine

Work

The Rights of Man

Written by Thomas Paine, this influential work delves into the philosophical underpinnings of human rights and the nature of government, advocating for the rights of man and the ideals of the French Revolution. 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

You May Also Like

“What is called a republic, is not any particular form of government ... it is naturally opposed to the word monarchy, which means arbitrary power.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“As my object was not myself, I set out with the determination, and happily with the disposition, of not being moved by praise or censure, friendship or calumny, nor of being drawn from my purpose by any personal altercation; and the man who cannot do this, is not fit for a public character.”