Thomas Paine: “Then I say, is England already ruined, for America is already independent: and if Lord Shelburne will not allow this, he…”

The meaning, then, good people, of all this, is: That government is governed by no principle whatever; that it can make evil good, or good evil, just as it pleases.

The Aristocracy had hitherto opposed the despotism of the Court, and affected the language of patriotism; but it opposed it as its rival (as the English Barons opposed King John) and it now opposed the nation from the same motives.

Natural rights are those which appertain to man in right of his existence.

The more it is struck the more sparks it will emit; and the fear is it will not be struck enough.