On the recordJanuary 1, 1791
If a government requires the support of oaths, it is a sign that it is not worth supporting, and ought not to be supported.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgIf a government requires the support of oaths, it is a sign that it is not worth supporting, and ought not to be supported.
In "Rights of Man," Paine asserts that a government relying on oaths for support is inherently weak and undeserving.
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More from Thomas Paine
As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of national Gods.
I do not believe that any two men, on what are called doctrinal points, think alike who think at all.
Reason and discussion, persuasion and conviction, become the weapons in the contest, and it is only when those are attempted to be suppressed that recourse is had to violence.
If, therefore, the good to be obtained be worthy of a passive, rational, and costless revolution, it would be bad policy to prefer waiting for a calamity that should force a violent one.