"Whatever has a tendency to promote the..." - Quote by Thomas Paine

“I have never made it a consideration whether the subject was popular or unpopular, but whether it was right or wrong; for that which is right will become popular, and that which is wrong, though by mistake it may obtain the cry or fashion of the day, will soon lose the power of delusion, and sink into disesteem.”

“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.”

“There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state. The construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity.”

“It is not the role of the United States to dictate change, but to enter into discussions with our friends.”

“In the field of world policy; I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor.”

“The Iranians may simply try to run out the clock.”

“When I study philosophical works I feel I am swallowing something which I don't have in my mouth.”

“This sense of wonder is the mark of the philosopher. Philosophy indeed has no other origin.”

“[Kepler] had to realize clearly that logical-mathematical theoretizing, no matter how lucid, could not guarantee truth by itself; that the most beautiful logical theory means nothing in natural science without comparison with the exactest experience. Without this philosophic attitude, his work would not have been possible.”