When we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more th… - Thomas Paine

the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when disordered;

Quizá los pensamientos que expongo en las siguientes páginas aún no están en boga ni tienen el favor general. El viejo hábito de no pensar que algo está mal puede dar la sensación de que está bien, y genera en un primer momento el impulso de defender las costumbres. Pero el tumulto pronto se apacigua. El tiempo hace más conversos que la razón.

The opinions of men with respect to government are changing fast in all countries. The Revolutions of America and France have thrown a beam of light over the world, which reaches into man. The enormous expense of governments has provoked people to think, by making them feel; and when once the veil begins to rend, it admits not of repair. Ignorance is of a peculiar nature: once dispelled, it is impossible to re-establish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant.