"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." ― Thomas Paine Topic(s): Poetry Tags: government More From Thomas Paine "When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon." "Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law." "Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man." More In Poetry "Poetry is man’s rebellion against being what he is."― James Branch Cabell "I think that great poetry is the most interesting and complex use of the poet’s language at that point in history, and so it’s even more exciting when you read a poet like Yeats, almost 100 years old now, and you think that perhaps no one can really top that."― Diane Wakoski "We don’t attempt to have any theme for a number of the anthology, or to have any particular sequence. We just put in things that we like, and then we try to alternate the prose and the poetry."― James Laughlin