What Thomas Paine thinks about government
Pamphleteer and revolutionary (1737 to 1809), born in Norfolk, England; author of Common Sense, a central text behind the call for American independence, and Rights of Man.
Thomas Paine did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Only Thomas Paine on government. See everyone on government
11 dated positions, 1776 to c. 1792, in their own words. Our reading of what Thomas Paine has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsGreat part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It has its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man.
↗Rights of Man (1791-1792)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Their wordsGovernment is no farther necessary than to supply the few cases to which society and civilisation are not conveniently competent; and instances are not wanting to show, that everything which government can usefully add thereto, has been performed by the common consent of society, without government.
↗Rights of Man (1791-1792)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Their wordsBy ingrafting representation upon democracy, we arrive at a system of government capable of embracing and confederating all the various interests and every extent of territory and population; and that also with advantages as much superior to hereditary government, as the republic of letters is to hereditary literature.
↗Rights of Man (1791-1792)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Their wordsA constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution, is power without a right.
↗Rights of Man (1791-1792)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Their wordsWhen it shall be said in any country in the world, my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am the friend of its happiness: when these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and its government.
↗Rights of Man (1791-1792)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Their wordsThe fact therefore must be that the individuals themselves, each in his own personal and sovereign right, entered into a compact with each other to produce a government: and this is the only mode in which governments have a right to arise, and the only principle on which they have a right to exist.
↗Rights of Man (1791-1792)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Their wordsA constitution is a thing antecedent to a government, and a government is only the creature of a constitution.
↗Rights of Man (1791-1792)gutenberg.org All 22 from this book
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Our readingTyranny is not easily conquered, but the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Their wordsTyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
↗The American Crisis, No. I (1776)gutenberg.org All 2 from this book
- 10 months earlier
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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.
↗Common Sense (new edition, 1776)gutenberg.org All 6 from this book
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Their wordsOf more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.
↗Common Sense (new edition, 1776)gutenberg.org All 6 from this book
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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.
↗Common Sense (new edition, 1776)gutenberg.org All 6 from this book