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Common Sense (new edition, 1776)

Thomas Paine · 14 Feb 1776

The book opens with

Time changes more minds than reason does

Their wordsTime makes more converts than reason.

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6 korrents from this book ↓

Thomas Paine did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. Our reading

    Time changes more minds than reason does

    Their wordsTime makes more converts than reason.

  2. Our reading

    Society is always a blessing, but government is at best a necessary evil and at worst an intolerable one

    Their wordsSociety in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.

  3. Our reading

    One honest man is worth more to society than all the kings who ever lived

    Their wordsOf more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

  4. Our reading

    Everything right and natural argues for America separating from Britain

    Their wordsEvery thing that is right or natural pleads for separation.

  5. Our reading

    In a free country the law ought to be king, and there ought to be no other

    Their wordsFor as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.

  6. Our reading

    Americans have it in their power to begin the world over again

    Their wordsWe have it in our power to begin the world over again.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.