Thomas Paine Quotes

There is no distinction of persons among them, and deference is shown to merit rather than to noble blood.

The foundation on which all our State constitutions are built is the natural equality of man, the denial of every pre-eminence but that annexed to legal office and particularly the denial of a pre-eminence by birth

Conduct, and conduct alone, entitles to respect: that not what men are, but what they do, constitutes their claim to deference … merit, and not birth, is the only rightful claim to power and authority

All men are equal; it is not their birth, but virtue itself that makes the difference

I'm all in favor of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius

While property continues to be pretty equally divided, and a considerable share of information pervades the community, the tendency of people’s suffrage will be to elevate merit even from obscurity. As riches increase and accumulate in a few hands, as luxury prevails in society, virtue will be in greater degree considered only as a graceful appendage of wealth, and the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard.

Of distinction by birth or badge, [Americans] had no more idea than they had of the mode of existence in the moon or planets. They had heard only that there were such, and knew that they must be wrong.

Prodigious actions may as well be done, by weaver's issue, as the prince's son.

I feel passionately that the opportunities I have had should be available to everyone.

Win on your merit, not your skin color.

I don't think equality is intrinsically valuable, meaning in and of itself. I'm not against inequality... if Bill Gates gets another hundred million dollars, it's no skin off my nose.

I appreciate good work no matter where it's coming from.

Anyone can achieve it if they're given the opportunity to.

Just because you're selling out shows doesn't mean you deserve better treatment than the person next door.

Liberals don't ask 'Does it work?' They ask 'Does it equalize?'

We must recover the element of quality in our traditional pursuit of equality. We must not, in opening our schools to everyone, confuse the idea that all should have equal chance with the notion that all have equal endowments.

Democracy represents the disbelief in all great men and in all elite societies: everybody is everybody's equal.

The doctrine of equality! ... But there is no more venomous poison in existence: for it appears to be preached by justice itself, when it is actually the end of justice ... "Equality to the equal; inequality to the unequal" that would be true justice speaking: and its corollary, "never make the unequal equal".

No man is nobler born than another, unless he is born with better abilities and a more amiable disposition. They who make such a parade with their family pictures and pedigrees, are, properly speaking, rather to be called noted or notorious than noble persons. I thought it right to say this much, in order to repel the insolence of men who depend entirely upon chance and accidental circumstances for distinction, and not at all on public services and personal merit.

Remember, most of us got something for nothing the first time just by showing up here at birth. Now we have to qualify.

My idea of society is that while we are born equal, meaning that we have a right to equal opportunity, all have not the same capacity.

Excellence is the best weapon against prejudice.

My respect for human beings is based not on the colour of a man’s skin nor authority he may wield, but purely on merit.

Greatness has nothing to do with diversity, skin color, race, ethnicity, nothing to do with it.

When one of a culture's guiding credos is that "all men are created equal," any person who, say, becomes an expert on, say, nuclear weapons or, say, ecology, i.e., anyone who distinguishes himself through mental excellence, is a nuisance.