Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one. – Thomas Paine
Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles he can only discover them. – Thomas Paine
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe. – Thomas Paine
What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue. – Thomas Paine
For 13 to be unlucky would require there to be some kind of cosmic intelligence that counts things that humans count and that also makes certain things happen on certain dates or in certain places according to whether the number 13 is involved or not (whatever is involved might mean). – Douglas Hofstadter