Mankind are not now to be told they shall not think, or they shall not read; and publications that go no farther than to investigate principles of government, to invite men to reason and to reflect, and to show the errors and excellences of different systems, have a right to appear.
In "Rights of Man," Paine argues for the inherent right of individuals to think and read freely, and for publications to investigate governmental principles.
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The object is not so much the produce of the tax as the justice of the measure.
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.
Whether robbery shall be banished from courts, and wretchedness from countries?