“Government,” says Swift, “is a plain thing, and fitted to the capacity of many heads.”
The Almighty implanted in us these inextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of His image in our heart. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals.
EVERY national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.
Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance.
Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches.
It is a position not to be controverted, that the earth... was and ever would have continued to be, the COMMON PROPERTY OF THE HUMAN RACE.
A share in two revolutions is living to some purpose.
The Allwise Creator hath been dishonored by being made the author of fable and the human mind degraded by believing it.
The intimacy which is contracted in infancy, and friendship which is formed in misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable.
Nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice.
I would give worlds, if I had them, if The Age of Reason had never been published. O Lord, help! Stay with me! It is hell to be left alone.
Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals.
The graceful pride of truth knows no extremes, and preserves, in every latitude of life, the right-angled character of man.
Lay then the axe to the root, and teach governments humanity. It is their sanguinary punishments which corrupt mankind.
The case, however, is, that the Bible will not bear examination in any part of it, which it would do if it was the Word of God. Those who most believe it are those who know least about it, and priests always take care to keep the inconsistent and contradictory parts out of sight.
Man cannot make, or invent, or contrive principles; he can only discover them; and he ought to look through the discovery to the Author.
I would not dare so dishonor my Creator’s name by attaching it to this filthy book.
They took care to represent government as a thing made up of mysteries, which only themselves understood, and they hid from the understanding of the nation, the only thing that was beneficial to know, namely, that government is nothing more than a national association acting on the principles of society.
The representative system of government is calculated to produce the wisest laws, by collecting wisdom where it can be found.
Civil rights are those which appertain to man in right of his being a member of society. Every civil right has for its foundation some natural right pre-existing in the individual, but to the enjoyment of which his individual power is not, in all cases, sufficiently competent. Of this kind are all those which relate to security and protection.