In contemplating revolutions, it is easy to perceive that they may arise from two distinct causes; the one, to avoid or get rid of some great calamity; the other, to obtain some great and positive good; and the two may be distinguished by the names of active and passive revolutions.
In "Rights of Man," Paine categorizes revolutions based on their underlying motivations: avoiding harm or achieving good.
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Nothing can be more terrible to a Court or Courtier than the Revolution of France.
The object is not so much the produce of the tax as the justice of the measure.
It was become evident, that no constitution, worthy of being called by that name, could be established on anything less than a national ground.
Man cannot, properly speaking, make circumstances for his purpose, but he always has it in his power to improve them when they occur, and this was the case in France.