To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not. – 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
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
It is not a God, just and good, but a devil, under the name of God, that the Bible describes. – Thomas Paine
That part of a work of one author found in another is not of itself piracy, or sufficient to support an action; a man may adopt part of the work of another; he may so make use of another’s labors for the promotion of science and the benefit of the public. – Lord Ellenborough, quoted in Bouvier’s Law Dictionary by John Bouvier, 8th