"When my country, into which I had..." - Quote by Thomas Paine

“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; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.”

“Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches.”

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”

“Every noble activity makes room for itself.”

“We cannot be satisfied with things as they are. We cannot be satisfied to drift, to rest on our oars, to glide over a sea whose depths are shaken by subterranean upheavals.”

“The cat in gloves catches no mice.”

“For morality life is a war, and the service of the highest is a sort of cosmic patriotism which also calls for volunteers.”

“Any relation to the land, the habit of tilling it, or mining it, or even hunting on it, generates the feeling of patriotism. He who keeps shop on it, or he who merely uses it as a support to his desk and ledger, or to his manufactory, values it less.”

“Our liberties, our values, all for which America stands is safe today because brave men and women have been ready to face the fire at freedom's front. And we thank God for them.”