“Thomas Paine was persecuted while alive and slandered after his death, and all in the name of Religion.”

— Ernestine Rose, Speech at the Thomas Paine Celebration (January 29, 1850)

About Ernestine Rose

1810 – 1892

Polish-born American suffragist and abolitionist, a leading advocate of women's rights.

“In proportion to power is responsibility.”

“Loyal means to be true to one's highest conviction.”

“It was a great mistake to say that God made man in his image.”

“Death, like generation, is a secret of Nature.”

“If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”

“No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle.”

“A witticism is an epigram on the death of a feeling.”

“Accepting the absurdity of everything around us is one step, a necessary experience: it should not become a dead end.”

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes!”