"To be nobly wrong is more manly..." - Quote by Thomas Paine
To be nobly wrong is more manly than to be meanly right.
More by Thomas Paine
“Call to mind the sentiments which nature has engraved on the heart of every citizen, and which take a new force when they are solemnly recognised by all:-For a nation to love liberty, it is sufficient that she knows it; and to be free, it is sufficient that she wills it.”
“Human language is local and changeable, and is therefore incapable of being used as the means of unchangeable and universal information.”
“The Bill of Rights should contain the general principles of natural and civil liberty. It should be to a community what the eternal laws and obligations of morality are to the conscience. It should be unalterable by any human power.”
More on Morality
“If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame.”
“The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give everyone else his due.”
“All justice is inherently social. Can someone on a desert island be either just or unjust?”
More on Integrity
“And the seriousness with which the other party takes my words always raises the doubt whether I have taken them seriously enough myself.”
“Although you have so far demonstrated little faith in my ability to pay, I yet hope to demonstrate that I am somebody who pays his debts-for example, to you.”
“I will not stagger from expedient to expedient.”