Share & Save
Meaning
The quote argues that much of modern religion would look very different if Jerusalem had once had a lunatic asylum. It uses blunt irony to suggest that religious history may have been shaped by instability rather than divine truth. The line is a sharp criticism of religion, not a neutral observation.
When It Was Said
Not documented yet.
Who It Was Said To
Not documented yet.
Historical Context
Not documented yet.
Source
Not documented yet.
Original Language & Translation
Originally said in English.
Did They Really Say It?
Listed as attributed, with the phrase found on other Wikiquote pages only.
Did You Know?
Not documented yet.
About Thomas Paine
English-born American political thinker, inventor, and statesman
Thomas Paine was an English-born American political thinker, inventor, and statesman of the 18th century. He helped shape the American Revolution and is best known for the pamphlets Common Sense and The American Crisis. Those writings were among the most influential texts at the start of the Revolution, and they helped encourage colonial patriots to declare independence from Great Britain in 1776. His ideas were rooted in Enlightenment ideals of human rights, which run through his political writing.
More from Thomas Paine (121 quotes) →More quotes by Thomas Paine
- “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”Thomas Paine
- “The difficulty of learning the dead languages does not arise from any superior abstruseness in the languages…”Thomas Paine
- “He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to…”Thomas Paine
- “And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession…”Thomas Paine
Reflections: more sayings
- “It's the small sins that save you. That's how you survive when all around you are getting their heads sawed o…”Robert Ferrigno
- “A country which does not create children is destined to die.”Matteo Salvini
- “I thought the first thing the pirates would do is take me out if they thought an attack was imminent. I reall…”Richard Phillips