but from the errors of other nations let us learn wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity — to begin government at the right end. - Thomas Paine
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but from the errors of other nations let us learn wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity — to begin government at the right end.
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.
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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.
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Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with infinitely more advantage, than any victory with all its expence.
in one point, all nations of the earth and all religions agree. All believe in a God, The things in which they disgrace are the redundancies annexed to that belief;
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Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins ... Society is in every state a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
