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161 " For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have the right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever, and tho' himself might deserve some decent degree of honours of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. "
― Thomas Paine , Common Sense
162 " Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe. "
― Thomas Paine , The Age of Reason
163 " ...taxes are not raised to carry on wars, but that wars are raised to carry on taxes "
― Thomas Paine , Rights of Man
164 " Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. "
165 " When it shall be said in any country in the world my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want; the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of its happiness: When these things can be said, there may that country boast its Constitution and its Government "
166 " Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer... "
167 " تمام دنیا سرزمینم، همه مردم جهان برادران و خواهرانم و نیکی کردن به آنها کیش و آیینم است "
― Thomas Paine
168 " I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. "
169 " Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. "
170 " Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them. "
171 " The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall. "
172 " Man did not enter society to be worse off, or to have fewer rights, but rather to have those rights better secured "
173 " I do not choose to be a common person. It is my right to be uncommon-- if I can. I seek opportunity--not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the State look after me. I want to take the calculated risk--to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole; I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence, the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of Utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid, to think and to act for myself, to enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, This, with God's help, I have done. All this is what it means to be an Entrepreneur! "
174 " But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing. "
175 " Whether we sleep or wake, the vast machinery of the universe still goes on. "
176 " It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world "
177 " When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. "
178 " It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication; after this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him. "
179 " قهر الإستبداد ليس بالأمر السهل , ولكن ما يعَزينا أنه كلما اشتد الصراع قسوة ...كلما ازداد النصر مجدًا "
180 " The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum. "