“Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course. But we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time. It is therefore at least millions to one that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie.”
More from Thomas Paine
“An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.”
“...taxes are not raised to carry on wars, but that wars are raised to carry on taxes.”
“All the tales of miracles, with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only…”
“From the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom.”