Like men in a state of intoxication, you forget that the rest of the world have eyes, and that the same stupidity which conceals you from yourselves exposes you to their satire and contempt.
Paine compares the British leadership to intoxicated men, arguing their self-deception makes them objects of international ridicule and contempt.
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When all the governments of Europe shall be established on the representative system, nations will become acquainted, and the animosities and prejudices fomented by the intrigue and artifice of courts, will cease.
The poor, in all countries, are naturally both peaceable and grateful in all reforms in which their interest and happiness is included.
There ought, therefore, to be in every nation a method of occasionally ascertaining the state of public opinion with respect to government.
Reason and discussion will soon bring things right, however wrong they may begin.