Standing on the shoulders of Thomas Paine, an English-born American Founding Father

Thomas Paine (born January 29, 1737, Thetford, Norfolk, England—died June 8, 1809, New York, New York, U.S.) was an English-born American Founding Father, French Revolutionary, inventor, and political philosopher whose Common Sense pamphlet and Crisis papers were important influences on the American Revolution. Other works that contributed to his reputation as one of the greatest political propagandists in history were Rights of Man, a defense of the French Revolution and of republican principles, and The Age of Reason, an exposition of the place of religion in society.

After blood was spilled at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, Paine argued that the cause of America should be not just a revolt against taxation but a demand for independence. He put this idea into Common Sense, which came off the press on January 10, 1776. The 50-page pamphlet sold more than 500,000 copies within a few months. More than any other single publication, Common Sense paved the way for the Declaration of Independence, unanimously ratified on July 4, 1776.

During the war that followed, Paine served as volunteer aide-de-camp to Gen. Nathanael Greene. His great contribution to the patriot cause was the 16 “Crisis” papers issued between 1776 and 1783, each one signed Common Sense. “The American Crisis. Number I,” published on December 19, 1776, when George Washington’s army was on the verge of disintegration, so moved Washington that he ordered it read to all the troops at Valley Forge. This paper, combined with the subsequent victory of Washington’s army in the Battle of Trenton later in the month, had the probable effect of inspiring many soldiers, whose term of service would expire January 1, to reenlist.

Below are his top 10 quotations:

1.???? “Character is much easier kept than recovered.” - Thomas Paine

2.???? “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” - Thomas Paine

3.???? “He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine

4.???? “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” - Thomas Paine

5.???? “Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.” - Thomas Paine

6.???? “The greatest remedy for anger is delay.” - Thomas Paine

7.???? “The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.” - Thomas Paine

8.???? “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” - Thomas Paine

9.???? “Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.” - Thomas Paine

10.? Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within. - Thomas Paine

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Thomas Paine > Quotes https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/57639.Thomas_Paine .

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