A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Education is essential for a nation to thrive, and ignorance supports detrimental forms of governance.
Thomas Paine emphasizes the importance of education within a nation, arguing that a well-regulated government should ensure that all citizens are instructed. He suggests that only oppressive forms of government, such as monarchies and aristocracies, thrive on the ignorance of the populace, highlighting the necessity of an informed citizenry for a healthy democracy.
Themes
EducationGovernmentIgnoranceEnlightenmentDemocracy
In practice
Example use cases
During a public speech on the importance of educational reform.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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