Thomas Paine: “The defect was not in the principle, but in the distribution of power.”

Many of the facts were in themselves principles; such as the declaration of American Independence, and the treaty of alliance between France and America, which recognised the natural rights of man, and justified resistance to oppression.

The man who is in the receipt of a million a year is the last person to promote a spirit of reform, lest, in the event, it should reach to himself.

Why is it that scarcely any are executed but the poor?

The argument changes from hereditary rights to hereditary wisdom; and the question is, Who is the wisest man?