Thomas Paine
About
Thomas Paine (1737-02-09 - 1809-06-08) was an English and American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary.
Pages
Quotes
on property
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.
— Agrarian Justice (1795–1796) (TPHS; Wikiquote)
When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example of the poor to plunder the rich of his property, for the rights of the one are as much property to him as wealth is property to the other and the 'little all' is as dear as the 'much'. It is only by setting out on just principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the rich.
— Agrarian Justice (1795–1796) (TPHS; Wikiquote)
Personal property is the effect of society; and it is as impossible for an individual to acquire personal property without the aid of society, as it is for him to make land originally.
Separate an individual from society, and give him an island or a continent to possess, and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end, in all cases, that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came.
— Agrarian Justice (1795–1796) (TPHS)
