A continual circulation of lies among those who are not much in the way of hearing them contradicted, will in time pass for truth; and the crime lies not in the believer but the inventor.
Paine warns about the danger of uncontradicted falsehoods becoming accepted as truth and assigns blame to those who originate lies.
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More from Thomas Paine
It is a great standing which they have now universally obtained; and we may hereafter hope to see revolutions, or changes in governments, produced with the same quiet operation by which any measure, determinable by reason and discussion…
Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with infinitely more advantage, than any victory with all its expense.
By the former, freedom has a national champion in the western world; and by the latter, in Europe.
When a nation changes its opinion and habits of thinking, it is no longer to be governed as before; but it would not only be wrong, but bad policy, to attempt by force what ought to be accomplished by reason.