If those to whom power is delegated do well, they will be respected: if not, they will be despised; and with regard to those to whom no power is dele… - Thomas Paine
""
If those to whom power is delegated do well, they will be respected: if not, they will be despised; and with regard to those to whom no power is delegated, but who assume it, the rational world can know nothing of them.
English
Collect this quote
About
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (February 9, 1737 [O.S. January 29, 1736] – 8 June 1809) was a British-American political writer, theorist, and activist who had a great influence on the thoughts and ideas which led to the American Revolution and the United States Declaration of Independence. He wrote three of the most influential and controversial works of the 18th Century: Common Sense, Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era ideals of transnational human rights.
Biography information from
Wikiquote·
Portrait adapted from
Wikimedia Commons, Auguste Millière / After George Romney / After William Sharp (Public domain / CC0)
Portrait from Wikimedia Commons. Credit: Auguste Millière / After George Romney / After William Sharp. Used under Public domain / CC0. Processed and styled by Quotewise.
Limited Time Offer
Premium members can get their quote collection automatically imported into their Quotewise collections.
These are the times that try men’s souls: the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country, but he that stands if now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
We know the cause which we are engaged in, and though a passionate fondness for it may make us grieve at every injury which threatens it, yet, when the moment of concern is over, the determination to duty returns. We are not moved by the gloomy smile of a worthless king, but by the ardent glow of generous patriotism. We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in. In such a case we are sure that we are right; and we leave to you the despairing reflection of being the tool of a miserable tyrant.
Reader, whoever thou art, put thy trust in thy Creator, make use of the reason he endowed thee with, and cast from thee all such fables.
