Thomas Paine: “Beaten, but not humble; condemned, but not penitent; they act like men trembling at fate and catching at a straw.”

When men unite in agreeing that a thing is good, could it be obtained, such for instance as relief from a burden of taxes and the extinction of corruption, the object is more than half accomplished.

It is only those who have not thought that appear to agree.

I do not believe that any two men, on what are called doctrinal points, think alike who think at all.

In those which proceed from the former cause, the temper becomes incensed and soured; and the redress, obtained by danger, is too often sullied by revenge.