Talk:Thomas Paine

I'm new to editing here, so I figure it'd be best to make myself known before making more significant changes to an article than just spelling and grammar clean up. I'd like to add my favorite quote from Paine because I like the fact that it's him telling us not to quote the dead as an appeal to authority in political matters. I like to think he'd appreciate being quoted to tell people to stop quoting him. The passage is:

"It is the living, and not the dead, that are to be accommodated. When man ceases to be, his power and his wants cease with him; and having no longer any participation in the concerns of this world, he has no longer any authority in directing who shall be its governors, or how its government shall be organised, or how administered."

You can find it here: http://www.constitution.org/tp/rightsman1.htm Just ctrl+f for "It is the living" and it should be the first result.
Any objections? Godless11B's gonna die the way he lived. 06:43, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

I like it. I do not see any reason why adding it should stir up any hatred or discontent amongst the rabble. Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 18:29, 6 April 2014 (UTC)

I went ahead and linked it to Argument from authority, too, since he was directly refuting one form of it in that passage, of course. Godless11B's gonna die the way he lived. 20:42, 6 April 2014 (UTC)

"First to advocate total abolition of slavery"

Is there any indication that this is actually true? Because this is a particularly bold claim, especially for an uncited one. Vee (talk) 14:51, 9 October 2022 (UTC)