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A Long Habit Of Not Thinking A Thing Wrong Gives It A Superficial Appearance Of Being Right.
-Thomas Paine
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A Long Habit Of

Thomas Paine
A Long Habit Of Not Thinking A Thing Wrong Gives It A Superficial Appearance Of Being Right.
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Topic
Integrity
Ignorance
Character
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There Are Matters In The Bible, Said To Be Done By The Express Commandment Of God, That Are Shocking To Humanity And To Every Idea We Have Of Moral Justice.
Motivation
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Justice
He Who Is The Author Of A War Lets Loose The Whole Contagion Of Hell And Opens A Vein That Bleeds A Nation To Death.
Motivation
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Government
I Had Come To Realize The Importance Of The Nation, And Of Shared, Communal, Social Responsibility, To Be Held As Equally Important As Individual Concerns. The Elderly, The Widowed, Newly Married Couples, The Poor, The Unemployed, Disbanded Soldiers And Children, Who Would Be Required To Attend School, Must Be Provided For From State Funds. And All This Support Is Not The Nature Of Charity, But Of A Right.
Children
Couple
School
We Can Only Reason From What Is; We Can Reason On Actualities, But Not On Possibilities.
Motivation
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Possibility
A Nation Under A Well Regulated Government, Should Permit None To Remain Uninstructed. It Is Monarchical And Aristocratical Government Only That Requires Ignorance For Its Support.
Education
Ignorance
Government
We Have It In Our Power To Begin The World Over Again.
Change
Motivation
4th Of July
Civilization, Or That Which Is So Called, Has Operated Two Ways To Make One Part Of Society More Affluent And The Other Part More Wretched Than Would Have Been The Lot Of Either In A Natural State.
Civilization
Two
Way
Let The World See That This Nation Can Bear Prosperity; And That Her Honest Virtue In Time Of Peace Is Equal To Her Bravest Valor In Time Of War.
Peace
War
World
It Is Often Said In The Bible That God Spake Unto Moses, But How Do You Know That God Spake Unto Moses? Because, You Will Say, The Bible Says So. The Koran Says, That God Spake Unto Mahomet, Do You Believe That Too? No. Why Not? Because, You Will Say, You Do Not Believe It; And So Because You Do, And Because You Don't Is All The Reason You Can Give For Believing Or Disbelieving Except That You Will Say That Mahomet Was An Impostor. And How Do You Know Moses Was Not An Impostor?
Believe
Giving
Why Not
Evils, Like Poisons, Have Their Uses, And There Are Diseases Which No Other Remedy Can Reach.
Evil
Poison
Use
The Obscene And Vulgar Stories In The Bible Are As Repugnant To Our Ideas Of The Purity Of A Divine Being, As The Horrid Cruelties And Murders It Ascribes To Him Are Repugnant To Our Ideas Of His Justice.
Bible
Ideas
Justice
Aristocracy Has A Tendency To Degenerate The Human Species.
Aristocracy
Degenerates
Tendencies
What We Obtain Too Cheap, We Esteem Too Lightly; It Is Dearness Only That Gives Everything Its Value.
Inspirational
Perseverance
Motivation
The Prejudice Of Unfounded Belief Often Degenerates Into The Prejudice Of Custom, And Becomes At Last Rank Hypocrisy. When Men, From Custom Or Fashion Or Any Worldly Motive, Profess Or Pretend To Believe What They Do Not Believe, Nor Can Give Any Reason For Believing, They Unship The Helm Of Their Morality, And Being No Longer Honest To Their Own Minds They Feel No Moral Difficulty In Being Unjust To Others.
Fashion
Believe
Men
He That Would Make His Own Liberty Secure, Must Guard Even His Enemy From Oppression; For If He Violates This Duty, He Establishes A Precedent That Will Reach To Himself.
Pain
Freedom
Fear
Whence Arose All The Horrid Assassinations Of Whole Nations Of Men, Women, And Infants, With Which The Bible Is Filled; And The Bloody Persecutions, And Tortures Unto Death, And Religiosu Wars, That Since That Time Have Laid Europe In Blood And Ashes; Whence Arose They, But From This Impious Thing Called Religion, And This Monstrous Belief That God Has Spoken To Man?
War
Men
Blood
The Slavery Of Fear Had Made Men Afraid To Think.
Men
Thinking
Slavery
I Have As Little Superstition In Me As Any Man Living, But My Secret Opinion Has Ever Been, And Still Is, That God Almighty Will Not Give Up A People To Military Destruction, Or Leave Them Unsupportedly To Perish, Who Have So Earnestly And So Repeatedly Sought To Avoid The Calamities Of War, By Every Decent Method Which Wisdom Could Invent. Neither Have I So Much Of The Infidel In Me, As To Suppose That He Has Relinquished The Government Of The World, And Given Us Up To The Care Of Devils.
Giving Up
Military
War
There Is Something Absurd In Supposing A Continent To Be Perpetually Governed By An Island.
Supposing That
Islands
Absurd
The Word Of God Is The Creation We Behold: And It Is In This Word, Which No Human Invention Can Counterfeit Or Alter, That God Speaketh Universally To Man.
Men
Creation
Invention
The Moral Duty Of Man Consists Of Imitating The Moral Goodness And Beneficence Of God, Manifested In The Creation Towards All His Creatures. Everything Of Persecution And Revenge Between Man And Man, And Everything Of Cruelty To Animals Is A Violation Of Moral Duty
Revenge
Animal
Men
A Long Habit Of Not Thinking A Thing Wrong Gives It A Superficial Appearance Of Being Right.
Integrity
Ignorance
Character
Time Makes More Converts Than Reason.
Life
Time
Motivation
Could The Straggling Thoughts Of Individuals Be Collected, They Would Frequently Form Materials For Wise And Able Men To Improve Into Useful Matter.
Wise
Men
Matter
The Evil That Has Resulted From The Error Of The Schools, In Teaching Natural Philosophy As An Accomplishment Only, Has Been That Of Generating In The Pupils A Species Of Atheism. Instead Of Looking Through The Works Of Creation To The Creator Himself, They Stop Short, And Employ The Knowledge They Acquire To Create Doubts Of His Existence. They Labour With Studied Ingenuity To Ascribe Every Thing They Behold To Innate Properties Of Matter, And Jump Over All The Rest By Saying, That Matter Is Eternal.
Philosophy
Teaching
School
The Danger To Which The Success Of Revolutions Is Most Exposed, Is That Of Attempting Them Before The Principles On Which They Proceed, And The Advantages To Result From Them, Are Sufficiently Seen And Understood.
Principles
Revolution
Danger
The Balance Of Power Is The Scale Of Peace. The Same Balance Would Be Preserved Were All The World Not Destitute Of Arms, For All Would Be Alike; But Since Some Will Not, Others Dare Not Lay Them Aside ... Horrid Mischief Would Ensue Were One Half The World Deprived Of The Use Of Them ... The Weak Will Become Prey To The Strong.
Strong
Gun
Weak Will
The Sun Never Shined On A Cause Of Greater Worth.
Sun
Revolution
Causes
The Intimacy Which Is Contracted In Infancy, And Friendship Which Is Formed In Misfortune, Are, Of All Others, The Most Lasting And Unalterable.
Intimacy
Infancy
Lasting
Titles Are Like A Magicians Wand Which Circumscribe Human Facility And Prevent Us From Living The Lives Of Man.
Self Esteem
Men
Titles
Panics, In Some Cases, Have Their Uses; They Produce As Much Good As Hurt. Their Duration Is Always Short; The Mind Soon Grows Through Them And Acquires A Firmer Habit Than Before. But Their Peculiar Advantage Is, That They Are The Touchstone Of Sincerity And Hypocrisy, And Bring Things And Men To Light, Which Might Have Lain Forever Undiscovered.
Hurt
Men
Light
To Take Away (voting) Is To Reduce A Man To Slavery.
Men
Voting
Slavery
The Mere Man Of Pleasure Is Miserable In Old Age, And The Mere Drudge In Business Is But Little Better, Whereas, Natural Philosophy, Mathematical And Mechanical Science, Are A Continual Source Of Tranquil Pleasure, And In Spite Of The Gloomy Dogmas Of Priests And Of Superstition, The Study Of These Things Is The True Theology; It Teaches Man To Know And Admire The Creator, For The Principles Of Science Are In The Creation, And Are Unchangeable And Of Divine Origin.
Philosophy
Knowledge
Science
No Man Is Prejudiced In Favor Of A Thing, Knowing It To Be Wrong. He Is Attached To It On The Belief Of Its Being Right; And When He Sees It Is Not So, The Prejudice Will Be Gone.
Hate
Men
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Whatever Has A Tendency To Promote The Civil Intercourse Of Nations By An Exchange Of Benefits Is A Subject As Worthy Of Philosophy As Of Politics.
Philosophy
Benefits
Tendencies
The United States Of America Will Sound As Pompously In The World Or In History As The Kingdom Of Great Britain.
America
Historical
Sound
The Trade Of Governing Has Always Been Monopolized By The Most Ignorant And The Most Rascally Individuals Of Mankind.
Government
Political
Ignorant
When An Objection Cannot Be Made Formidable, There Is Some Policy In Trying To Make It Frightful; And To Substitute The Yell And The War-whoop, In The Place Of Reason, Argument And Good Order.
War
Order
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Persecution Is Not An Original Feature In Any Religion; But It Is Always The Strongly Marked Feature Of All Religions Established By Law.
Motivation
Law
Religion
War Involves In Its Progress Such A Train Of Unforeseen Circumstances That No Human Wisdom Can Calculate The End; It Has But One Thing Certain, And That Is To Increase Taxes.
Wisdom
Money
Motivation
Public Credit Is Suspicion Asleep.
Credit
Suspicion
The Art Of Publicity Is A Black Art; But It Has Come To Stay, And Every Year Adds To Its Potency.
Art
Years
Black
What At First Was Plunder Assumed The Softer Name Of Revenue.
Names
Taxation
Firsts
A Government On The Principles On Which Constitutional Governments Arising Out Of Society Are Established, Cannot Have The Right Of Altering Itself. If It Had, It Would Be Arbitrary. It Might Make Itself What It Pleased; And Wherever Such A Right Is Set Up, It Shows There Is No Constitution.
Government
Principles
Would Be
All Men Can Understand What Representation Is; And That It Must Necessarily Include A Variety Of Knowledge And Talents.
Men
Political
Politics
He Who Dares Not Offend Cannot Be Honest.
Truth
Political
Honest
And To Read The Bible Without Horror, We Must Undo Everything That Is Tender, Sympathizing And Benevolent In The Heart Of Man.
Heart
Men
Religion
You Cannot Undermine Police Authority And Then Complain About Rising Crime.
Fear
Police
Complaining
In Deism Our Reason And Our Belief Are Happily United.
Belief
Reason
Deism
Prejudice Will Fall In A Combat With Interest.
Fall
Prejudice
Combat
The Intellectual Part Of Religion Is A Private Affair Between Every Man And His Maker, And In Which No Third Party Has Any Right To Interfere. The Practical Part Consists In Our Doing Good To Each Other. But Since Religion Has Been Made Into A Trade, The Practical Part Has Been Made To Consist Of Ceremonies Performed By Men Called Priests ... By Devices Of This Kind True Religion Has Been Banished, And Such Means Have Been Found Out To Extract Money, Even From The Pockets Of The Poor, Instead Of Contributing To Their Relief.
Party
Mean
Men
Whatever Is My Right As A Man Is Also The Right Of Another; And It Becomes My Duty To Guarantee As Well As To Possess.
Men
Guarantees
Duty
But Where, Says Some, Is The King Of America? I'll Tell You. Friend, He Reigns Above, And Doth Not Make Havoc Of Mankind Like The Royal Brute Of Britain.
God
Kings
America
The Instant Formal Government Is Abolished, Society Begins To Act. A General Association Takes Place, And Common Interest Produces Common Security.
Pain
Motivation
Government
It Can Only Be By Blinding The Understanding Of Man, And Making Him Believe That Government Is Some Wonderful Mysterious Thing, That Excessive Revenues Are Obtained. Monarchy Is Well Calculated To Ensure This End. It Is The Popery Of Government; A Thing Kept Up To Amuse The Ignorant, And Quiet Them Into Taxes.
Believe
Men
Mysterious Things
A Long Habit Of Not Thinking A Thing Wrong, Gives It A Superficial Appearance Of Being Right, And Raises At First A Formidable Outcry In Defense Of Custom. But The Tumult Soon Subsides. Time Makes More Converts Than Reason.
Pain
Thinking
Long
One Would Think That A System Loaded With Such Gross And Vulgar Absurdities As Scripture Religion Is Could Never Have Obtained Credit; Yet We Have Seen What Priestcraft And Fanaticism Can Do, And Credulity Believe.
Believe
Thinking
Scripture
Uncritical Reverence For The Founding Fathers Was Less Ubiquitous While They Actually Lived. . . . "the Reign Of Terror That Raged In America During The Latter End Of The Washington Administration, And The Whole Of That Of Adams, Is Enveloped In Mystery To Me. That There Were Men In The Government Hostile To The Representative System, Was Once Their Toast, Though It Is Now Their Overthrow, And Therefore The Fact Is Established Against Them."
Life
Father
Men
The Almighty Lecturer, By Displaying The Principles Of Science In The Structure Of The Universe, Has Invited Man To Study And To Imitation. It Is As If He Has Said To The Inhabitants Of This Globe That We Call Ours, "i Have Made An Earth For Man To Dwell Upon, And I Have Rendered The Starry Heavens Visible, To Teach Him Science And The Arts. He Can Now Provide For His Own Comfort, And Learn From My Munificence To All To Be Kind To Each Other.
Art
Men
Heaven
Peace, Which Costs Nothing, Is Attended With Infinitely More Advantage Than Any Victory With All Its Expence.
Money
War
Victory
To Believe That God Created A Plurality Of Worlds, At Least As Numerous As What We Call Stars, Renders The Christian Faith At Once Little And Ridiculous; And Scatters It In The Mind Like Feathers In The Air.
Christian
Stars
Believe
There Are A Set Of Men Who Go About Making Purchases Upon Credit, And Buying Estates They Have Not Wherewithal To Pay For; And Having Done This, Their Next Step Is To Fill The Newspapers With Paragraphs Of The Scarcity Of Money And The Necessity Of A Paper Emission, Then To Have A Legal Tender Under The Pretense Of Supporting Its Credit, And When Out, To Depreciate It As Fast As They Can, Get A Deal Of It For A Little Price, And Cheat Their Creditors; And This Is The Concise History Of Paper Money Schemes.
Men
Scarcity
Credit
If, To Expose The Fraud And Imposition Of Monarchy . . . To Promote Universal Peace, Civilization, And Commerce, And To Break The Chains Of Political Superstition, And Raise Degraded Man To His Proper Rank; If These Things Be Libellous . . . Let The Name Of Libeller Be Engraved On My Tomb
Men
Civilization
Names
Revelation Is Necessarily Limited To The First Communication- After That It Is Only An Account Of Something Which That Person Says Was A Revelation Made To Him; And Though He May Find Himself Obliged To Believe It, It Can Not Be Incumbent On Me To Believe It In The Same Manner; For It Was Not A Revelation Made To Me, And I Have Only His Word For It That It Was Made To Him.
Believe
Communication
Religion
Man Did Not Make The Earth, And Though He Had A Natural Right To Occupy It, He Had No Right To Locate As His Property In Perpetuity, Any Part Of It.
Men
Land
Earth
And When We View A Flag, Which To The Eye Is Beautiful, And To Contemplate Its Rise And Origin Inspires A Sensation Of Sublime Delight, Our National Honor Must Unite With Our Interests To Prevent Injury To The One, Or Insult To The Other.
Beautiful
Eye
Views
A Body Of Men Holding Themselves Accountable To Nobody Ought Not To Be Trusted By Anybody.
Trust
Men
Accountability
The Christian System Of Religion Is An Outrage On Common Sense.
Christian
Common Sense
Religion
The Declaration Which Says That God Visits The Sins Of The Fathers Upon The Children Is Contrary To Every Principle Of Moral Justice.
Children
Father
Justice
Change Of Ministers Amounts To Nothing. One Goes Out, Another Comes In, And Still The Same Measures, Vices, And Extravagances Are Pursued. It Signifies Not Who Is Minister. The Defect Lies In The System. The Foundation And Superstructure Of The Government Is Bad. Prop It As You Please, It Continually Sinks And Ever Will.
Lying
Government
Political
The Right Of Voting For Representatives , Is The Primary Right By Which Other Rights Are Protected.
Rights
Voting
Representatives
What Is Called A Republic, Is Not Any Particular Form Of Government ... It Is Naturally Opposed To The Word Monarchy, Which Means Arbitrary Power.
Mean
Government
Political
We Must Be Compelled To Hold This Doctrine To Be False, And The Old And New Law Called The Old And New Testament, To Be Impositions, Fables And Forgeries.
Law
Religion
Doctrine
I Die In Perfect Composure And Resignation To The Will Of My Creator, God.
Creator God
Perfect
Composure
Great Part Of That Order Which Reigns Among Mankind Is Not The Effect Of Government. It Has Its Origin In The Principles Of Society And The Natural Constitution Of Man. It Existed Prior To Government, And Would Exist If The Formality Of Government Was Abolished. The Mutual Dependence And Reciprocal Interest Which Man Has Upon Man, And All The Parts Of Civilised Community Upon Each Other, Create That Great Chain Of Connection Which Holds It Together.
Men
Order
Community
It Is, I Believe, Impossible To Find In Any Story Upon Record So Many And Such Glaring Absurdities, Contradictions, And Falsehoods, As Are In The Books [the Gospels Of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John]. They Are More Numerous And Striking Than I Had Any Expectation Of Finding, When I Began This Examination.
Believe
Book
Expectations
Arms, Like Laws, Discourage And Keep The Invader And Plunderer In Awe And Preserve Order.
Gun
Order
Law
In The Progress Of Politics, As In The Common Occurrences Of Life, We Are Not Only Apt To Forget The Ground We Have Travelled Over, But Frequently Neglect To Gather Up Experiences As We Go.
Travel
Progress
Politics
Wherefore, Security Being The True Design And End Of Government, It Unanswerably Follows That Whatever Form Thereof Appears Most Likely To Ensure It To Us, With The Least Expense And Greatest Benefit, Is Preferable To All Others.
Government
Design
Benefits
Of All The Systems Of Religion That Ever Were Invented, There Is No More Derogatory To The Almighty, More Unedifying To Man, More Repugnant To Reason, And More Contradictory To Itself Than This Thing Called Christianity. Too Absurd For Belief, Too Impossible To Convince, And Too Inconsistent For Practice, It Renders The Heart Torpid Or Produces Only Atheists Or Fanatics. As An Engine Of Power, It Serves The Purpose Of Despotism, And As A Means Of Wealth, The Avarice Of Priests, But So Far As Respects The Good Of Man In General It Leads To Nothing Here Or Hereafter.
Atheist
Heart
Mean
But There Is Another And Greater Distinction For Which No Truly Natural Or Religious Reason Can Be Assigned, And That Is The Distinction Of Men Into Kings And Subjects. Male And Female Are The 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 Inquiring Into, And Whether They Are The Means Of Happiness Or Of Misery To Mankind.
Religious
Kings
Mean
It Is An Affront To Treat Falsehood With Complaisance.
Motivation
Serious
Affront
As To The Book Called The Bible, It Is Blasphemy To Call It The Word Of God. It Is A Book Of Lies And Contradictions And A History Of Bad Times And Bad Men.
Christian
Religious
Lying
'tis The Business Of Little Minds To Shrink; But He Whose Heart Is Firm, And Whose Conscience Approves His Conduct, Will Pursue His Principles Unto Death.
Strength
Being Strong
Perseverance
Ye That Dare Oppose, Not Only Tyranny, But The Tyrant, Stand Forth!
Tyrants
Democracy
Dare
My Country Is The World, And My Religion Is To Do Good.
Inspirational
Life
Inspiring
Money, When Considered As The Fruit Of Many Years' Industry, As The Reward Of Labor, Sweat And Toil, As The Widow's Dowry And Children's Portion, And As The Means Of Procuring The Necessaries And Alleviating The Afflictions Of Life, And Making Old Age A Scene Of Rest, Has Something In It Sacred That Is Not To Be Sported With, Or Trusted To The Airy Bubble Of Paper Currency.
Children
Mean
Years
Every National Church Or Religion Has Established Itself By Pretending Some Special Mission From God, Communicated To Certain Individuals. The Jews Have Their Moses; The Christians Their Jesus Christ, Their Apostles And Saints; And The Turks Their Mahomet; As If The Way To God Was Not Open To Every Man Alike.
Christian
Jesus
Men
If There Must Be Trouble, Let It Be In My Day, That My Child May Have Peace.
Veterans Day
Time
Peace
These Are The Times That Try Men's Souls. The Summer Soldier And The Sunshine Patriot Will, In This Crisis, Shrink From The Service Of His Country; But He That Stands It Now, Deserves The Love And Thanks Of Man And Woman.
Love
Summer
Country
The Study Of Theology, As It Stands In The Christian Churches, Is The Study Of Nothing.
Christian
Church
Study
The Essential Psychological Requirement Of A Free Society Is The Willingness On The Part Of The Individual To Accept Responsibility For His Life. - Edith Packer When The Government Fears The People, It Is Liberty. When The People Fear The Government, It Is Tyranny.
Responsibility
Government
People
Wisdom Is Not The Purchase Of A Day, And It Is No Wonder That We Should Err At The First Setting Off.
Firsts
Wonder
Should
The Christian Religion Is Derogatory To The Creator In All Its Articles. It Puts The Creator In An Inferior Point Of View, And Places The Christian Devil Above Him. It Is He, According To The Absurd Story In Genesis, That Outwits The Creator In The Garden Eden, And Steals From Him His Favorite Creature, Man, And At Last Obliges Him To Beget A Son, And Put That Son To Death, To Get Man Back Again; And This The Priests Of The Christian Religion Call Redemption.
Christian
Son
Men
The Birthday Of A New World Is At Hand.
Hands
World
New World
But There Are Times When Men Have Serious Thoughts, And It Is At Such Times, When They Begin To Think, That They Begin To Doubt The Truth Of The Christian Religion; And Well They May, For It Is Too Fanciful And Too Full Of Conjecture, Inconsistency, Improbability And Irrationality, To Afford Consolation To The Thoughtful Man. His Reason Revolts Against His Creed. He Sees That None Of Its Articles Are Proved, Or Can Be Proved.
Christian
Men
Thinking
I Believe In One God, And No More; And I Hope For Happiness Beyond This Life. I Believe In The Equality Of Humans; And I Believe That Religious Duties Consist In Doing Justice, Loving Mercy, And Endeavoring To Make Our Fellow Creatures Happy.
Life
Happiness
Religious
A Man May Write Himself Out Of Reputation When Nobody Else Can Do It.
Writing
Men
May
Let Them Call Me Rebel, And Welcome, I Feel No Concern From It.
Rebel
Revolutionary
Call Me
It Is Important That We Should Never Lose Sight Of This Distinction. We Must Not Confuse The Peoples With Their Governments.
Government
Sight
Important
I Die Content, I Die For The Liberty Of My Country.
Country
Patriotism
Liberty
An Avidity To Punish Is Always Dangerous To Liberty. It Leads Men To Stretch, To Misinterpret, And To Misapply Even The Best Of Laws.
Men
Law
Liberty
Lay Then The Axe To The Root, And Teach Governments Humanity. It Is Their Sanguinary Punishments Which Corrupt Mankind.
Government
Punishment
Roots
The Continually Progressive Change To Which The Meaning Of Words Is Subject, The Want Of A Universal Language Which Renders Translation Necessary, The Errors To Which Translations Are Again Subject, The Mistakes Of Copyists And Printers, Together With The Possibility Of Willful Alteration, Are Themselves Evidences That Human Language, Whether In Speech Or Print, Cannot Be The Vehicle Of The Word Of God.
Atheist
Mistake
Errors
From Whence, Then, Could Arise The Solitary And Strange Conceit That The Almighty, Who Had Millions Of Worlds Equally Dependant On His Protection, Should Quit The Care Of All The Rest, And Come To Die In Our World, Because, They Say, One Man And One Woman Had Eaten An Apple?
Men
Our World
Apples
A Government Of Our Own Is Our Natural Right; And When A Man Seriously Reflects On The Precariousness Of Human Affairs, He Will Become Convinced, That It Is Infinitely Wiser And Safer, To Form A Constitution Of Our Own In A Cool Deliberate Manner, While We Have It In Our Power, Than To Trust Such An Interesting Event To Time And Chance.
Men
Interesting
Events
It Is From The Power Of Taxation Being In The Hands Of Those Who Can Throw So Great A Part Of It From Their Own Shoulders, That It Has Raged Without A Check.
Hands
Political
Taxation
The Nearer Any Disease Approaches To A Crisis, The Nearer It Is To A Cure. Danger And Deliverance Make Their Advances Together; And It Is Only In The Last Push That One Or The Other Takes The Lead.
Together
Disease
Lasts
I Draw My Idea Of The Form Of Government From A Principle In Nature, Which No Art Can Overturn, Viz. That The More Simple Any Thing Is, The Less Liable It Is To Be Disordered; And The Easier Repaired When Disordered.
Art
Simple
Government
Independence Is My Happiness, And I View Things As They Are, Without Regard To Place Or Person; My Country Is The World, And My Religion Is To Do Good.
God
Country
Freedom
From The East To The West Blow The Trumpet To Arms! Through The Land Let The Sound Of It Flee; Let The Far And The Near All Unite, With A Cheer, In Defense Of Our Liberty Tree.
Cheer
Freedom
Blow
A World Of Little Cares Is Continually Arising, Which Busy Or Affluent Life Knows Nothing Of, To Open The First Door To Distress. Hunger Is Not Among The Postponable Wants; And A Day, Even A Few Hours, In Such A Condition Is Often The Crisis Of A Life Of Ruin.
Doors
Temptation
World
The Greatest Characters The World Has Known, Have Rose On The Democratic Floor. Aristocracy Has Not Been Able To Keep A Proportionate Pace With Democracy.
Character
Rose
Democracy
Never, I Say, Had A Country So Many Openings To Happiness As This.... Her Cause Was Good. Her Principles Just And Liberal. Her Temper Serene And Firm.... The Remembrance Then Of What Is Past, If It Operates Rightly Must Inspire Her With The Most Laudable Of An Ambition, That Of Adding To The Fair Fame She Began With. The World Has Seen Her Great Adversity.... Let Then, The World See That She Can Bear Prosperity; And That Her Honest Virtue In Time Of Peace Is Equal To The Bravest Virtue In Time Of War.
Country
War
Adversity
... A Thirst For Power Is The Natural Disease Of Monarchy.
Disease
Natural
Thirst For Power
Is It Because You Are Sunk In The Cruelty Of Superstition, Or Feel No Interest In The Honor Of Your Creator, That You Listen To The Horrid Tales Of The Bible, Or Hear Them With Callous Indifference?
Honor
Superstitions
Indifference
In A Chariot Of Light From The Region Of The Day, The Goddess Of Liberty Came. She Brought In Her Hand As A Pledge Of Her Love, The Plant She Named Liberty Tree.
Patriotic
Light
July
Of More Worth Is One Honest Man To Society, And In The Sight Of God, Than All The Crowned Ruffians That Ever Lived.
Men
Sight
Political
It Requires But A Very Small Glance Of Thought To Perceive, That Although Laws Made In One Generation Often Continue In Force Through Succeeding Generations, Yet That They Continue To Derive Their Force From The Consent Of The Living. A Law Not Repealed Continues In Force, Not Because It Cannot Be Repealed, But Because It Is Not Repealed; And The Non Repealing Passes For Consent.
Law
Generations
Succeed
Governments Arise Either Out Of The People Or Over The People.
Government
People
Arise
Is It Not A Species Of Blasphemy To Call The New Testament Revealed Religion, When We See In It Such Contradictions And Absurdities.
Contradiction
New Testament
Absurdity
These Proceedings May At First Seem Strange And Difficult, But Like All Other Steps Which We Have Already Passed Over, Will In A Little Time Become Familiar And Agreeable: And Until An Independence Is Declared, The Continent Will Feel Itself Like A Man Who Continues Putting Off Some Unpleasant Business From Day To Day, Yet Knows It Must Be Done, Hates To Set About It, Wishes It Over, And Is Continually Haunted With The Thoughts Of Its Necessity.
Hate
Men
Independence
Mystery Is The Antagonist Of Truth. It Is A Fog Of Human Invention, That Obscures Truth, And Represents It In Distortion.
Fog
Mystery
Invention
Action And Care Will In Time Wear Down The Strongest Frame, But Guilt And Melancholy Are Poisons Of Quick Dispatch.
Guilt
Poison
Care
When I See Throughout This Book, Called The Bible, A History Of The Grossest Vices And A Collection Of The Most Paltry And Contemptible Tales And Stories, I Could Not So Dishonor My Creator By Calling It By His Name.
Book
Names
Religion
Compassion, The Fairest Associate Of The Heart.
Sympathy
Condolences
Heart
The Animals To Whom Nature Has Given The Faculty We Call Cunning Know Always When To Use It, And Use It Wisely; But When Man Descends To Cunning He Blunders And Betrays.
Animal
Men
Use
It Has Been The Scheme Of The Christian Church, And Of All The Other Invented Systems Of Religion, To Hold Man In Ignorance Of The Creator, As It Is Of Government To Hold Man In Ignorance Of His Rights. The Systems Of The One Are As False As Those Of The Other, And Are Calculated For Mutual Support.
Christian
Ignorance
Men
A Constitution Defines And Limits The Powers Of The Government It Creates. It Therefore Follows, As A Natural And Also A Logical Result, That The Governmental Exercise Of Any Power Not Authorized By The Constitution Is An Assumed Power, And Therefore Illegal.
Exercise
Government
Limits
I Consider The War Of America Against Britain As The Country's War, The Public's War, Or The War Of The People In Their Own Behalf, For The Security Of Their Natural Rights, And The Protection Of Their Own Property.
Country
War
Rights
The Idea Of Hereditary Legislators Is As Inconsistent As That Of Hereditary Judges, Or Hereditary Juries; And As Absurd As An Hereditary Mathematician, Or An Hereditary Wise Man; And As Ridiculous As An Hereditary Poet-laureat.
Wise
Men
Ideas
It Is Necessary To The Happiness Of Man That He Be Mentally Faithful To Himself. Infidelity Does Not Consist In Believing, Or In Disbelieving, It Consists In Professing To Believe What He Does Not Believe.
Happiness
Motivation
Integrity
A Constitution Is Not The Act Of A Government, But Of A People Constituting A Government, And A Government Without A Constitution Is A Power Without Right.
Government
People
Constitution
Character Is Much Easier Kept Than Recovered.
Life
Integrity
War
It Is Easy To See That When Republican Virtue Fails, Slavery Ensues.
Slavery
Republican
Failing
If The Present Generation, Or Any Other, Are Disposed To Be Slaves, It Does Not Lessen The Right Of The Succeeding Generation To Be Free: Wrongs Cannot Have A Legal Descent.
Doe
Generations
Succeed
The Protection Of A Man's Person Is More Sacred Than The Protection Of His Property.
Men
Evil
Sacred
The Bible Is A Book That Has Been Read More And Examined Less Than Any Book That Ever Existed.
Bible
Religious
Book
Rights Are Not Gifts From One Man To Another, Nor From One Class Of Men To Another. It Is Impossible To Discover Any Origin Of Rights Otherwise Than In The Origin Of Man; It Consequently Follows That Rights Appertain To Man In Right Of His Existence, And Must Therefore Be Equal To Every Man.
Men
Class
Rights
And As To You, Sir, Treacherous In Private Friendship And A Hypocrite In Public Life, The World Will Be Puzzled To Decide Whether You Are An Apostate Or An Impostor; Whether You Have Abandoned Good Principles, Or Whether You Ever Had Any.
Pain
Hypocrite
Principles
We Feel Something Like Respect For Consistency Even In Error. We Lament The Virtue That Is Debauched Into A Vice; But The Vice That Affects A Virtue Becomes The More Detestable.
Errors
Consistency
Vices
No Falsehood Is So Fatal As That Which Is Made An Article Of Faith.
Religion
Made
Articles
As Property, Honestly Obtained, Is Best Secured By An Equality Of Rights, So Ill-gotten Property Depends For Protection On A Monopoly Of Rights. He Who Has Robbed Another Of His Property, Will Next Endeavor To Disarm Him Of His Rights, To Secure That Property; For When The Robber Becomes The Legislator He Believes Himself Secure.
Believe
Rights
Political
...the Individuals Themselves, Each In His Own Personal And Sovereign Right, Entered Into A Compact With Each Other To Produce A Government: And This Is The Only Mode In Which Governments Have A Right To Arise, And The Only Principle On Which They Have A Right To Exist.
Government
Principles
Sovereign
The Burden Of The National Debt Consists Not In Its Being So Many Millions, Or So Many Hundred Millions, But In The Quantity Of Taxes Collected Every Year To Pay The Interest. If This Quantity Continue The Same, The Burden Of The National Debt Is The Same To All Intents And Purposes, Be The Capital More Or Less.
Years
Purpose
Debt
It Is A Fraud Of The Christian System To Call The Sciences Human Invention; It Is Only The Application Of Them That Is Human.
Christian
Science
Invention
What Is It The Bible Teaches Us? -- Rapine, Cruelty, And Murder.
Murder
Founding Fathers Religion
Cruelty
Cultivation Is At Least One Of The Greatest Natural Improvements Ever Made By Human Invention. It Has Given To Created Earth A Tenfold Value. But The Landed Monopoly That Began With It Has Produced The Greatest Evil. It Has Dispossessed More Than Half The Inhabitants Of Every Nation Of Their Natural Inheritance, Without Providing For Them, As Ought To Have Been Done, An Indemnification For That Loss, And Has Thereby Created A Species Of Poverty And Wretchedness That Did Not Exist Before.
Loss
Evil
Inheritance
Of All The Tyrannies That Affect Mankind, Tyranny In Religion Is The Worst.
Christian
Religious
Atheist
... In Free Countries The Law Ought To Be King; And There Ought To Be No Other.
Country
Kings
Law
We Hold The Moral Obligation Of Providing For Old Age, Helpless Infancy, And Poverty Is Far Superior To That Of Supplying The Invented Wants Of Courtly Extravagance.
Justice
Age
Extravagance
The Abilities Of Man Must Fall Short On One Side Or The Other, Like Too Scanty A Blanket When You Are Abed. If You Pull It Upon Your Shoulders, Your Feet Are Left Bare; If You Thrust It Down To Your Feet, Your Shoulders Are Uncovered.
Fall
Men
Feet
In Reviewing The History Of The English Government, Its Wars And Its Taxes, A Bystander, Not Blinded By Prejudice Nor Warped By Interest, Would Declare That Taxes Were Not Raised To Carry On Wars, But That Wars Were Raised To Carry On Taxes.
War
Bystanders
Government
Calumny Is A Vice Of Curious Constitution; Trying To Kill It Keeps It Alive; Leave It To Itself And It Will Die A Natural Death.
Calumny Is
Trying
Vices
Practical Religion Consists In Doing Good: And The Only Way Of Serving God Is That Of Endeavoring To Make His Creation Happy. All Preaching That Has Not This For Its Object Is Nonsense And Hypocrisy.
God
Peace
Truth
The Only Idea Man Can Affix To The Name Of God, Is That Of A First Cause, The Cause Of All Things. And, Incomprehensibly Difficult As It Is For A Man To Conceive What A First Cause Is, He Arrives At The Belief Of It, From The Tenfold Greater Difficulty Of Disbelieving It. It Is Difficult Beyond Description To Conceive That Space Can Have No End; But It Is More Difficult To Conceive An End. It Is Difficult Beyond The Power Of Man To Conceive An Eternal Duration Of What We Call Time; But It Is More Impossible To Conceive A Time When There Shall Be No Time.
Men
Names
Ideas
There Now Remain Only A Few Books, Which They Call Books Of The Lesser Prophets; And As I Have Already Shown That The Greater Are Impostors, It Would Be Cowardice To Disturb The Repose Of The Little Ones. Let Them Sleep, Then, In The Arms Of Their Nurses, The Priests, And Both Be Forgotten Together.
Book
Sleep
Nurse
Whenever We Read The Obscene Stories, The Voluptuous Debaucheries, The Cruel And Tortuous Executions, The Unrelenting Vindictiveness With Which More Than Half The Bible Is Filled, It Would Be More Consistent That We Call It The Word Of A Demon Than The Word Of God. It Is A History Of Wickedness That Has Served To Corrupt And Brutalize Humankind.
Bible
Religious
Faith Religion
Every Age And Generation Must Be As Free To Act For Itself In All Cases As The Ages And Generations Which Preceded It. The Vanity And Presumption Of Governing Beyond The Grave Is The Most Ridiculous And Insolent Of All Tyrannies.
Vanity
Age
Generations
The New Testament, They Tell Us, Is Founded Upon The Prophecies Of The Old; If So, It Must Follow The Fate Of Its Foundation.
Fate
Religion
Foundation
He Who Takes Nature For His Guide, Is Not Easily Beaten Out Of His Argument
Argument
Guides
Beaten
Heaven Knows How To Put A Proper Price Upon Its Goods. It Would Be Strange Indeed If So Celestial An Article As Freedom Should Not Be Highly Rated. Britain, With An Army To Enforce Her Tyranny, Has Declared That She Has A Right (not Only To Tax) But "to Bind Us In All Cases Whatsoever," And If Being Bound In That Manner, Is Not Slavery, Then Is There Not Such A Thing As Slavery Upon Earth. Even The Expression Is Impious, For So Unlimited A Power Can Belong Only To God.
Army
Expression
Heaven
Reason Obeys Itself; And Ignorance Submits To Whatever Is Dictated To It.
Motivation
Ignorance
Knowledge
Ignorance Is Of A Peculiar Nature; Once Dispelled, It Is Impossible To Reestablish It. It Is Not Originally A Thing Of Itself, But Is Only The Absence Of Knowledge; And Though Man May Be Kept Ignorant, He Cannot Be Made Ignorant.
Ignorance
Men
Ignorant
It Is Unnatural That A Pure Stream Should Flow From A Foul Fountain Its Vices Are But A Continuation Of The Vices Of Its Origin. A Man Of Moral Honor And Good Political Principles, Cannot Submit To The Mean Drudgery And Disgraceful Arts, By Which Such Elections Are Carried. To Be A Successful Candidate, He Must Be Destitute Of The Qualities That Constitute A Just Legislator: And Being Thus Disciplined To Corruption It Is Not To Be Expected That The Representative Should Be Better Than The Man.
Art
Mean
Successful
For Freemen Like Brothers Agree; With One Spirit Endured, They One Friendship Pursued, And Their Temple Was Liberty Tree
Brother
Tree
Liberty
Men Who Are Sincere In Defending Their Freedom, Will Always Feel Concern At Every Circumstance Which Seems To Make Against Them; It Is The Natural And Honest Consequence Of All Affectionate Attachments, And The Want Of It Is A Vice. But The Dejection Lasts Only For A Moment; They Soon Rise Out Of It With Additional Vigor; The Glow Of Hope, Courage And Fortitude, Will, In A Little Time, Supply The Place Of Every Inferior Passion, And Kindle The Whole Heart Into Heroism.
Passion
Heart
Men
It Is The Madness Of Folly, To Expect Mercy From Those Who Have Refused To Do Justice; And Even Mercy, Where Conquest Is The Object, Is Only A Trick Of War; The Cunning Of The Fox Is As Murderous As The Violence Of The Wolf.
War
Justice
Violence
The Most Detestable Wickedness, The Most Horrid Cruelties, And The Greatest Miseries, That Have Afflicted The Human Race Have Had Their Origin In This Thing Called Revelation, Or Revealed Religion.
Race
Atheism
Wickedness
The Artificial Noble Shrinks Into A Dwarf Before The Noble Of Nature; And In The Few Instances (for There Are Some In All Countries) In Whom Nature, As By A Miracle, Has Survived In Aristocracy, Those Men Despise It.
Country
Men
Dwarves
Where Knowledge Is A Duty, Ignorance Is A Crime.
Ignorance
Crime
Duty
The Duty Of Man Is Not A Wilderness Of Turnpike Gates, Through Which He Is To Pass By Tickets From One To The Other. It Is Plain And Simple, And Consists But Of Two Points--his Duty God, Which Every Man Must Feel; And, With Respect To His Neighbor, To Do As He Would Be Done By.
Simple
Men
Two
Thus Commerce, Though In Itself A Moral Nullity, Has Had A Considerable Influence In Tempering The Human Mind....he Trades With The Same Countries ...(that He) Would Have Gone To War With.
Country
War
Mind
It Is A Faculty Of The Human Mind To Become What It Contemplates, And To Act In Unison With Its Object.
Philosophy
Mind
Unison
The State Of A King Shuts Him From The World, Yet The Business Of A King Requires Him To Know It Thoroughly.
Kings
World
States
Those Words, Temperate And Moderate, Are Words Either Of Political Cowardice, Or Of Cunning, Or Seduction. A Thing, Moderately Good Is Not So Good As It Ought To Be. Moderation In Temper, Is Always A Virtue; But Moderation In Principle, Is A Species Of Vice.
Pain
Political
Vices
Men Did Not Make The Earth... It Is The Value Of The Improvements Only, And Not The Earth Itself, That Is Individual Property. ... Every Proprietor Owes To The Community A Ground Rent For The Land Which He Holds.
Men
Land
Community
The Mind, In Discovering Truths, Acts In The Same Manner As It Acts Through The Eye In Discovering Objects; When Once Any Object Has Been Seen, It Is Impossible To Put The Mind Back To The Same Condition It Was In Before It Saw It.
Truth
Eye
Mind
When It Shall Be Said In Any Country In The World My Poor Are Happy; Neither Ignorance Nor Distress Is To Be Found Among Them; My Jails Are Empty Of Prisoners, My Streets Of Beggars; The Aged Are Not In Want; The Taxes Are Not Oppressive; The Rational World Is My Friend, Because I Am A Friend Of Its Happiness: When These Things Can Be Said, There May That Country Boast Its Constitution And Its Government
Happiness
Country
Ignorance
Natural Rights Are Those Which Always Appertain To Man In Right Of His Existence. Of This Kind Are All The Intellectual Rights, Or Rights Of The Mind, And Also All Those Rights Of Acting As An Individual For His Own Comfort And Happiness, Which Are Not Injurious To The Rights Of Others.
Men
Rights
Mind
The Fable Of Christ And His Twelve Apostles Is A Parody Of The Sun And The Twelve Signs Of The Zodiac, Copied From The Ancient Religions Of The Eastern World. Every Thing Told Of Christ Has Reference To The Sun. His Reported Resurrection Is At Sunrise, And That On The First Day Of The Week; That Is, On The Day Anciently Dedicated To The Sun, And From Thence Called Sunday.
Sunday
Zodiac
Sunrise
To Establish Any Mode To Abolish War, However Advantageous It Might Be To Nations, Would Be To Take From Such Government The Most Lucrative Of Its Branches.
Funny
Motivation
War
Human Language Is Local And Changeable, And Is Therefore Incapable Of Being Used As The Means Of Unchangeable And Universal Information.
Mean
Information
Language
Our Present Condition Is, Legislation Without Law; Wisdom Without A Plan; A Constitution Without A Name; And, What Is Strangely Astonishing, Perfect Independence Contending For Dependence.
Law
Names
Perfect
In The First Part Of 'rights Of Man' I Have Endeavoured To Show...that There Does Not Exist A Right To Establish Hereditary Government...because Hereditary Government Always Means A Government Yet To Come, And The Case Always Is, That The People Who Are To Live Afterwards, Have Always The Same Right To Choose A Government For Themselves, As The People Had Who Have Lived Before Them.
Mean
Men
Rights
I Have Never Made It A Consideration Whether The Subject Was Popular Or Unpopular, But Whether It Was Right Or Wrong; For That Which Is Right Will Become Popular, And That Which Is Wrong, Though By Mistake It May Obtain The Cry Or Fashion Of The Day, Will Soon Lose The Power Of Delusion, And Sink Into Disesteem.
Fashion
Mistake
May
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.
Men
Opportunity
Knowing
Each Of Those Churches Shows Certain Books, Which They Call Revelation, Or The Word Of God. The Jews Say That Their Word Of God Was Given By God To Moses Face To Face; The Christians Say, That Their Word Of God Came By Divine Inspiration; And The Turks Say, That Their Word Of God (the Koran) Was Brought By An Angel From Heaven. Each Of Those Churches Accuses The Other Of Unbelief; And, For My Own Part, I Disbelieve Them All.
Christian
Book
Inspiration
The Mind Once Enlightened Cannot Again Become Dark.
Education
Dark
Mind
Moderation In Temper Is Always A Virtue; But Moderation In Principle Is Always A Vice.
Pain
Motivation
Vices
The Graceful Pride Of Truth Knows No Extremes, And Preserves, In Every Latitude Of Life, The Right-angled Character Of Man.
Character
Pride
Men
Science Is The True Theology.
Religion
Theology
I Bring Reason To Your Ears, And, In Language As Plain As Abc, Hold Up Truth To Your Eyes.
Eye
Ears
Language
There Is Something In Meanness Which Excites A Species Of Resentment That Never Subsides, And Something In Cruelty Which Stirs Up The Heart To The Highest Agony Of Human Hatred.
Heart
Agony
Hatred
It Is Unpleasant To See Character Throw Itself Away.
Character
Political
Politics
Virtues Are Acquired Through Endeavor, Which Rests Wholly Upon Yourself. So, To Praise Others For Their Virtues Can But Encourage One's Own Efforts.
Encouraging
Encouragement
Motivation
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.
Debt
Bears
Cases
These Are The Times That Try Men's Souls.
Veterans Day
Time
Motivation
That Which Is Now Called Natural Philosophy, Embracing The Whole Circle Of Science, Of Which Astronomy Occupies The Chief Place, Is The Study Of The Works Of God, And Of The Power And Wisdom Of God In His Works, And Is The True Theology.
Philosophy
Circles
Study
Government, Even In Its Best State, Is But A Necessary Evil; In Its Worst State, An Intolerable One.
Motivation
War
4th Of July
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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