In mourning the plumage, he forgot the dying bird 
I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes. 
It is a faculty of the human mind to become what it contemplates, and to act in unison with its object. 
Every person of learning is finally his own teacher. 
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. 
The Allwise Creator hath been dishonored by being made the author of fable and the human mind degraded by believing it. 
The Christian religion begins with a dream and ends with a murder. 
It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error. 
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities. 
Some people can be reasoned into sense, and others must be shocked into it. 
Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet 
Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad. 
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. 
The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy. 
Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. 
A share in two revolutions is living to some purpose. 
What is called a republic, is not any particular form of government ... it is naturally opposed to the word monarchy, which means arbitrary power. 
Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title. 
Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'tis time to part. 
The fate of Charles I has only made kings more subtle, not more just. 
A bad cause will never be supported by bad means and bad men. 
for no man expects to be loved himself for his crime or for his enmity. 
The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf. 
To take away (voting) is to reduce a man to slavery. 
The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security. 
But from the errors of other nations let us learn wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity - to begin government at the right end. 
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. 
It is a general idea, that when taxes are once laid on, they are never taken off. 
Wisdom is not the purchase of a day 
It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man. 
Wisdom is not the purchase of a day, and it is no wonder that we should err at the first setting off. 
Give me liberty, or give me death. 
Whether we sleep or wake, the vast machinery of the universe still goes on. 
The Bible is such a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which part to believe or whether any. 
The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system. 
Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. 
It is always to be taken for granted, that those who oppose an equality of rights never mean the exclusion should take place on themselves. 
The period of debate is closed. Arms, as a last resource, must decide the contest. 
Evils, like poisons, have their uses, and there are diseases which no other remedy can reach. 
What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue. 
The birthday of a new world is at hand. 
The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind. 
From such beginnings of governments, what could be expected, but a continual system of war and extortion? 
It is unpleasant to see character throw itself away. 
Governments arise either out of the people or over the people. 
A government or an administration, who means and acts honestly, has nothing to fear, and consequently has nothing to conceal; 
Virtue is not hereditary. 
It is a duty incumbent on every true deist, that he vindicates the moral justice of God against the calumnies of the Bible. 
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance. 
THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: 
It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world 
Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? 
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. 
One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests. 
The stupid texts of the Bible - from which, be the talents of the preacher what they may, only stupid sermons can be preached. 
He, who survives his reputation, lives out of despite himself, like a man listening to his own reproach. 
Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. 
Long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, 
When authors and critics talk of the sublime, they see not how nearly it borders on the ridiculous. 
From the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom, 
The United States should be an asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty. 
Common sense will tell us, thatthe power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all others, the
most improper to defend us.
It will be proper to take a review of the several sources from which governments have arisen, and on which they have been founded. 
My mind is my own church. 
When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. 
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection. 
I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace. 
My country is wherever liberty lives. 
Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice. 
The more acquisitions the government makes abroad, the more taxes the people have to pay at home. 
Prejudice will fall in a combat with interest. 
You cannot undermine police authority and then complain about rising crime. 
Human language is local and changeable, and is therefore incapable of being used as the means of unchangeable and universal information. 
No nation ought to be without a debt. A national debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a grievance. 
It is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues. 