A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Despotism thrives on the fear it instills in others, not on its actual strength.
This quote by Thomas Paine emphasizes that the true power of tyrannical rule is derived from the fear of defiance among the people, rather than any intrinsic strength the despot possesses. It suggests that if people are willing to resist, the despot's hold on power can be weakened or eliminated altogether.
Themes
DespotismFearResistancePowerTyranny
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on civil liberties, one might quote this to stress the importance of resisting oppressive regimes.
More from Thomas Paine
All quotes →That 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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