Thomas Paine Quotes

There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talent.

While under precapitalistic conditions superior men were the masters on whom the masses of the inferior had to attend, under capitalism the more gifted and more able have no means to profit from their superiority other than to serve to the best of their abilities the wishes of the majority of the less gifted.

Any concept of one person being superior to another can lead to racism.

Because I have a little bit more, that means I'm better than you? No. Unacceptable.

The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction.

Democracy presumes that we're all created equal; competition proves we are not, or else every race would end in a tie.

I try to not be or associate with elitists.

As equality increases, so does the number of people struggling for predominance.

There is an infinite difference between a little wrong and just right, between fairly good and the best, between mediocrity and superiority.

There is something inherent in our democracy that tends to want to level. America is a little uncomfortable in the presence of someone who is distinctly superior in whatever way.

I put myself on the same level as everyone else around me - from the directrice to the workman, everyone. Except my pets - they are the Kings; you must treat them like royalty.

I really reject that kind of comparison that says, Oh, he is the best. This is the second best. There is no such thing.

I truly don't know why the boys are getting all the votes - it could be because they are really amazing, and that's all there is to it. They're really, really good and every single boy deserves to be in the competition right now, and so do the two girls.

I was number one in the ratings four times last year and twice this season. What could be more damn equal than that? If they get any more equal, I don't want it.

Aristocracy is naturally abhorrent to me, and adored equality is my idol.

To realize democracy it is necessary to absolutely eliminate ... colour from all State and social policy, unless you would justify ... caste, wealth, rank, birth and education, as giving title to privileged treatment ...

In this country there is no rank but rank mutton.

Because you are a great noble, you think you are a great genius! Nobility, a fortune, a rank, appointment to office: all this makes a man so proud! What did you do to earn all this? You took the trouble to get born—nothing more.

The very existence of government implies inequality. The citizen who is preferred to office becomes the superior of those who are not, as long as he is the repository of power.

Some men will be always able to pay more for their children's education than others; and that those children will, inevitably, win in the struggle of life.

Order is Heaven's first law, and this confessed, Some are, and must be greater than the rest -

Some will always be above others. Destroy the inequality today, and it will appear again tomorrow.

Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow.

Brahmins cannot hope to claim a high and superior status forever. Times are changing. They have to come down.

We once had a society stratified by bloodlines, in which the Protestant Establishment was in one class, immigrants were in another and African-Americans were in another. Now we live in a society stratified by education. In many ways this system is more fair, but as the information economy matures, we are learning it comes with its own brutal barriers to opportunity and ascent.