A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right. – Thomas Paine
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities. – Thomas Paine
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. – Thomas Paine
Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true. – Thomas Paine
It is already possible to imagine a society in which the majority of the population, that is to say, its laborers, will have almost as much leisure as in earlier times was enjoyed by the aristocracy. When one recalls how aristocracies in the past actually behaved, the prospect is not cheerful. – W. H. Auden