Thomas Paine Quotes

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism, and ought to have no place among Republicans and Christians.

Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.

People demand freedom only when they have no power.

I would prefer to be a citizen of an independent country rather than Emperor of an enslaved one.

There is no such thing as liberty. You only change one sort of domination for another. All we can do is to choose our master.

The tyrant is only the slave turned inside out.

You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.

There are no tyrants where there are no slaves.

This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”

A thousand men enslaved fear one beast free.

Conquerors never, never conquer a nation to bring freedom. They brought control.

It is terrible to speak of you, Liberty, for one who lives without you.

See, it's no in between: you're either free or you're a slave.

You carry forever the fingerprint that comes from being under someone's thumb.

Unless one is inordinately fond of subordination, one is always at war.

If you turn the other cheek, you can be enslaved for 1,000 years.

To depend upon the Will of a Man is Slavery.

Master of the universe but not of myself, I am the only rebel against my absolute power.

Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.

Tyrants are seldom free; the cares and the instruments of their tyranny enslave them.

Free men have arms; slaves do not.

No man is good enough to be another's master.

Power is an instrument of fatal consequence. It is confined no more readily than quicksilver, and escapes good intentions as easily as air flows through mesh.

I would not like a king who could obey.