Quote
By Thomas Paine
Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices.
- Source
- Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, 1776 · Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, p. 7
- Read at
- Internet Archive (John Carter Brown Library scan of the 1776 Philadelphia printing, W. and T. Bradford)
Share this quote
About this quote
From Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, printed in Philadelphia in 1776 (W. and T. Bradford printing). Paine published it without his name at first.