An Honest Man Versus the Crown

This week, I feel like sharing some of my favorite portions of Thomas Paine's book "Common Sense". It is a worthwhile read and is available free from Amazon for download to Kindle or other device.

Today's quotes come from the section entitled "OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION":

Male and female are distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.

And:

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.

Finally, his conclusion on this topic:

Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

- All quotes are from Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"