Thomas Paine

Either, therefore, the people of former times were more watchful over government than those of the present, or government was administered with less extravagance.

The old terms are kept up, to give an appearance of consequence to empty forms; and the only effect they have is that of increasing expenses.

When we speak of the crown now, it means nothing; it signifies neither a judge nor a general: besides which it is the laws that govern, and not the man.

The hazard to which this office is exposed in all countries, is not from anything that can happen to the man, but from what may happen to the nation--the danger of its coming to its senses.

Burke writes, namely, that the people must be hood-winked, and held in superstitious ignorance by some bugbear or other; and what is called the crown answers this purpose, and therefore it answers all the purposes to be expected from it.

Were we not accustomed to the daily practice, and did we only hear of it as the law of some distant part of the world, we should conclude that the legislators of such countries had not arrived at a state of civilisation.

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

In stating these matters, I speak an open and disinterested language, dictated by no passion but that of humanity.

Such situations are derogatory to the character of man; and where they can be submitted to, honour cannot reside.

It is from the power of taxation being in the hands of those who can throw so great a part of it from their own shoulders, that it has raged without a check.

Had there been a house of farmers, there had been no game laws; or a house of merchants and manufacturers, the taxes had neither been so unequal nor so excessive.

The inequality, as well as the burthen of taxation, arises from admitting it in one case, and not in all.