Thomas Paine Quotes

As far as I remember, even younger than eight, I have always been guided by reason. Not cold reason, but that which leads to the truth, to the real, and to sane Justice.

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.

It is the work of fancy to enlarge, but of judgment to shorten and contract; and therefore this must be as far above the other as judgment is a greater and nobler faculty than fancy or imagination.

Wise men argue causes; fools decide them.

Perspective gives us the ability to accurately contrast the large with the small, and the important with the less important. Without it we are lost in a world where all ideas, news, and information look the same. We cannot differentiate, we cannot prioritize, and we cannot make good choices.

Intellect distinguishes between the possible and the impossible; reason distinguishes between the sensible and the senseless. Even the possible can be senseless.

I do not fear truth. I welcome it. But I wish all of my facts to be in their proper context.

Reason commands us far more imperiously than a master; for in disobeying the one we are unfortunate, and in disobeying the other we are fools.

Logic and fact keep interfering with the easy flow of conversation.

These rare senses and powers of reasoning were given to be used freely, but not audaciously, to discover, not to pervert the truth.

It's not the quantity of your decisions; it's the quality.

Reason without passion is sterile, but passion without reason is hysteria.

Ability to discern that what is true is true, and that what is false is false, is the characteristic of intelligence.

There's got to be a point in time where the reality comes home and people realize, here are the facts, and this is either not true or it is true. You've got the facts, you can make your own decision now.

Reason alone cannot give you a whole steak, but it sure helps with identifying bologna.

If you judge, investigate.

We must always tell what we see. Above all, and this is more difficult, we must always see what we see.

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

The first point of wisdom is to discern that which is false; the second, to know that which is true.

The only question which any wise man can ask himself, and which any honest man will ask himself, is whether a doctrine is true or false.

Doubt, the essential preliminary of all improvement and discovery, must accompany the stages of man's onward progress. The faculty of doubting and questioning, without which those of comparison and judgment would be useless, is itself a divine prerogative of the reason.

Seeing reality for what it is is what we call discernment. The work of discernment is very hard.

I think that we must find some way to get more common sense, more rationality, in our decisions and less emotion.

Judgment is contained in the act of trying to understand.