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
It is one of the greatest problems. It will appear very paradoxical, but this is true - before you can lose your ego, you must attain it. Only a ripe fruit falls to the ground. Ripeness is all. An unripe ego cannot be thrown, cannot be destroyed. And if you struggle with an unripe ego to destroy and dissolve it, the whole effort is going to be a failure. Rather than destroying it, you will find it more strengthened, in new and subtle ways.
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Modern systematic politics, whether liberal, conservative, radical, or socialist, simply has to be rejected from a standpoint that owes genuine allegiance to the tradition of the virtues; for modern politics itself expresses in its institutional forms a systematic rejection of that tradition
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Only a fool would leave the enjoyment of rainbows to the opticians. Or give the science of optics the last word on the matter.
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It is possibly not very helpful to our inner life to ponder a great deal on how the external world is reflected in our soul. By doing so, we do not get beyond a shadowy picture of the world of mental images in ourselves.
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The aim of the liar is simply to charm, to delight, to give pleasure. He is the very basis of civilized society.
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The reason we see hypocrisy and fraud and unreality in others is because they are all in our own hearts. The great characteristic of a saint is humility-Yes, all those things and other evils would have been manifested in me but for the grace of God, therefore I have no right to judge.
Oswald ChambersRead