Thomas Paine

It might be said, that until men think for themselves the whole is prejudice, and not opinion; for that only is opinion which is the result of reason and reflection.

On all such subjects men have but to think, and they will neither act wrong nor be misled.

To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not.

The revolution of America presented in politics what was only theory in mechanics.

So deeply rooted were all the governments of the old world, and so effectually had the tyranny and the antiquity of habit established itself over the mind, that no beginning could be made in Asia, Africa, or Europe, to reform the political…

Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.

But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks,--and all it wants,--is the liberty of appearing.

The sun needs no inscription to distinguish him from darkness; and no sooner did the American governments display themselves to the world, than despotism felt a shock and man began to contemplate redress.

The independence of America, considered merely as a separation from England, would have been a matter but of little importance, had it not been accompanied by a revolution in the principles and practice of governments.

She made a stand, not for herself only, but for the world, and looked beyond the advantages herself could receive.

As America was the only spot in the political world where the principle of universal reformation could begin, so also was it the best in the natural world.

The mind of the nation had changed beforehand, and the new order of things has naturally followed the new order of thoughts.