A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True liberty requires protecting even those we oppose from oppression to ensure our own freedom.
This quote by Thomas Paine emphasizes the importance of safeguarding the rights of all individuals, even those with whom we may disagree. It suggests that allowing oppression against others sets a dangerous precedent that could ultimately threaten our own liberty and rights, highlighting the interconnectedness of freedom and justice.
Themes
LibertyOppressionFreedomJusticeRights
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a human rights discourse to underline the significance of protecting everyone's rights.
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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