Later times have laid all the blame upon the Goths and Vandals, but, however unwilling the partizans of the Christian system may be to believe or to acknowledge it, it is nevertheless true, that the age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system. There was more knowledge in the world before that period, than for many centuries afterwards; and as to religious knowledge, the Christian system, as already said, was only another species of mythology; and the mythology to which it succeeded, was a corruption of an ancient system of theism.; and if we take our stand about the beginning of the sixteenth century, we look back through that long chasm, to the times of the Ancients, as over a vast sandy desert, in which not a shrub appears to intercept the vision to the fertile hills beyond. Thomas Paine
About This Quote

This quote highlights the importance of reading books and gaining knowledge, especially for those who are young. Knowledge is power, and the world will be a better place to live in if everyone has that power. Nelson Mandela was saying that even though people are today ignorant of history, reason dictates that they would have been much more knowledgeable at the end of the fifteenth century.

Source: The Age Of Reason

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More Quotes By Thomas Paine
  1. 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.
  2. Let them call me a rebel and welcome. I feel no concern from it. But should I suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul.
  3. It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
  4. The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.
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