A Quote by Christopher Lasch

The left no longer stands for common sense, as it did in the days of Tom Paine.

Christopher Lasch

Quote Topics

Common Common Sense Days Did Left Longer Paine Sense Stands Tom Tom Paine

Quote Author

Christopher Lasch
American - Historian
June 1, 1932 - February 14, 1994

[Dalton] Trumbo wrote this incredible pamphlet, almost on the level of Tom Paine's 'Common Sense,' called 'The Time of the Toad.' It's an exquisitely written treatise regarding the black list era.

Jay Roach

Tom Paine was a great American visionary. His book, Common Sense, sold a couple of hundred thousand copies in a population of four or five million. That means it was a best seller for years. People were thoughtful then. Hope is one thing. But you need to have hope with thought.

Studs Terkel

Thomas Paine, so celebrated and so despised as he traveled through the critical events of his time, has long appealed to biographers. Paine was present at the creation both of the United States and of the French Republic. His eloquence, in the pamphlet 'Common Sense,' propelled the American colonists toward independence.

Edmund Morgan

I say this often, THINK. There is something in life called common sense. Webster's says common sense is sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts. Perhaps this is why in 1776, Thomas Paine used these words as a title for the most famous pamphlet ever written.

Jack White

In January 1776, Thomas Paine issued 'Common Sense,' advocating independence from Great Britain.

Mike Crapo

Common sense is not something rigid and stationary, but is in continuous transformation, becoming enriched with scientific notions and philosophical opinions that have entered into common circulation. 'Common sense' is the folklore of philosophy and always stands midway between folklore proper (folklore as it is normally understood) and the philosophy, science, and economics of the scientists. Common sense creates the folklore of the future, a relatively rigidified phase of popular knowledge in a given time and place.

Antonio Gramsci

There are no words to express the extraordinary strength and character of this breed of people we call American. They are the kind of men and women Tom Paine had in mind when he wrote, during the darkest days of the American Revolution, we have it in our power to begin the world over again.

Ronald Reagan

Stephen Miller did one thing: He simply recited common sense. This is a common sense immigration bill. If there was ever a piece of common sense legislation, this is it. In this case, what Stephen Miller did was nothing more than common sense, and yet it was interpreted - it went right over their heads, the White House press corps, not just Jim Acosta and Glenn Thrush. It went over all of their heads because they didn't understand what he was talking about, either because of the fog of hatred they have for Donald Trump and his administration, or they are just ignorant.

Rush Limbaugh

I never tire of reading Tom Paine.

Abraham Lincoln

I think Tom Paine is one of the greatest men that's ever lived.

Richard Attenborough

In 'Common Sense' Paine flared forth with a document so powerful that the Revolution became inevitable. Washington recognized the difference, and in his calm way said that matters never could be the same again.

Thomas A. Edison

Common sense is the guy who tells you that you ought to have had your brakes relined last week before you smashed a front end this week. Common sense is the Monday morning quarterback who could have won the ball game if he had been on the team. But he never is. He's high up in the stands with a flask on his hip. Common sense is the little man in a grey suit who never makes a mistake in addition. But it's always someone else's money he's adding up.

Raymond Chandler

People are going to take shots at you for everything you did bad, and they forget about all the good things you did. They do it to everyone. They're going to do it to me, they've done it to all of them. They did it to Tom Landry. Are you kidding me? Tom Landry? With the fedora? Come on. They did it to Tom Landry.

Herm Edwards

What I say should always be prefaced with this: I'm not really politically articulate. I just try to be like Thomas Paine: what is common sense? So when I say these things to you, I am speaking from a humanist point of view. I just look around and see what's wrong.

Patti Smith

I talked on my blog recently about "uncommon sense." Common sense is called "common" because it reflects cultural consensus. It's common sense to get a good job and save for retirement. But I think we all also have an "uncommon sense," an individual voice that tells us what we're meant to do.