A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Government is a necessary but flawed institution, capable of both good and evil.
Thomas Paine expresses a critical view of government, asserting that while it may serve essential functions in society, it inherently possesses characteristics of evil that can lead to oppression and tyranny. Even in its most effective form, government carries the burden of necessary control, highlighting the delicate balance between order and freedom.
Themes
GovernmentEvilSocietyControlFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on political philosophy, to illustrate the complexities of governance.
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
Similar quotes
Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on.
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It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end.
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The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves. They cannot see that, in the egoistic pursuit of having as a possessing class, they suffocate in their own possessions and no longer are; they merely have.
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Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say: This is my community, and it is my responsibility to make it better. Interweave all these communities and you really have an America that is back on its feet again. I really think we are gonna have to reassess what constitutes a 'hero'.
Studs TerkelRead
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead