Thomas Paine quotes

“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”

“It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.”

“Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.”

“To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to nations, would be to take from such government the most lucrative of its branches.”

“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all law-religions, or religions established by law.”