Robert Darnton Quotes

The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.

I never tire of reading Tom Paine.

American Philosophical Society

Others can rule, many can fight, but only Thomas Paine can write for us the English tongue.

I'm a creature of the eighteenth century at heart: The Enlightenment and the search for happiness suit me.

It would be exciting to take part in what we now call the Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century, but with modern dentistry.

Who would think it possible to redirect historical scholarship by explaining what Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence?

Contemporary defenders of the Enlightenment shouldn't overgeneralize: the Enlightenment, however it is defined, is not an unalloyed good.

Whatever else we may say of our own age, for good or evil, nobody is likely to call it an Age of Reason.

The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during the Enlightenment and during the framing of the American Constitution.

I think Tom Paine is one of the greatest men that's ever lived.

If the Christians who were alive in the 1770s behaved and believed like the Christians of today, there wouldn't be an America as we know it.

For even the ordinary well-read person, the French Enlightenment is largely restricted to the three big-name philosophes: Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire.

The American Revolution was, in fact, a battle against the philosophy of Locke and the English utilitarians.

I am a person of the 18th century.

Hamilton had one of those extraordinary 18th-century minds that touched on virtually every major topic of the day.

Kant and Hegel are interesting thinkers. But I am happy to insist that they are also terrible writers.

I mean, the Constitution of this country was written 200 years ago. The house I was living in in Madrid is 350 years old! America is still a project, and you guys are working on it and bringing new things to it every day. That is beautiful to watch.

The theories of the major philosophers of the 18th century secular enlightenment were biblical and theological in spite of themselves.

Then when I reached college I realized that many people had thought about the problem during the 18th and 19th centuries and so I studied those methods.

The Enlightenment was an attempt to liberate myth and base truth claims on evidence, not just dogma. But when science threw out the church, they threw out the baby with the bath water.

The founding fathers used the well regulated militias to suppress rebellions.

There are two visions of America. One precedes our founding fathers and finds its roots in the harshness of our puritan past. It is very suspicious of freedom, uncomfortable with diversity, hostile to science, unfriendly to reason, contemptuous of personal autonomy. It sees America as a religious nation. It views patriotism as allegiance to God. It secretly adores coercion and conformity. Despite our constitution, despite the legacy of the Enlightenment, it appeals to millions of Americans and threatens our freedom. The other vision finds its roots in the spirit of our founding revolution and in the leaders of this nation who embraced the age of reason. It loves freedom, encourages diversity, embraces science and affirms the dignity and rights of every individual. It sees America as a moral nation, neither completely religious nor completely secular. It defines patriotism as love of country and of the people who make it strong. It defends all citizens against unjust coercion and irrational conformity.

Modern Western thought will pass into history and be incorporated in it.

America was born modern; it did not have to achieve modernity, nor did it have modernity thrust upon it.