A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reason is a powerful tool for identifying and correcting mistakes.
In this quote, Thomas Paine emphasizes the importance of reason as a tool for combating errors. It suggests that rational thinking and logical analysis are critical in addressing not only factual inaccuracies but also misconceptions in broader contexts, advocating for the use of reason as the most effective means of discerning truth and achieving clarity in understanding.
Themes
ReasonErrorsWisdomTruthLogic
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about climate change, one might say, 'Remember, as Thomas Paine noted, reason is our strongest weapon against errors of every kind.'
More from Thomas Paine
All quotes βThat 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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