{"id":94,"date":"2018-08-14T20:04:41","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T20:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tompainetoday.com\/commonsense\/?page_id=94"},"modified":"2018-08-14T21:41:44","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T21:41:44","slug":"reflections-on-titles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.tompainetoday.com\/commonsense\/thomas-paines-writings\/pre-1776\/reflections-on-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Ask me what \u2019s honour? I \u2019ll the truth impart:<br\/>Know, honour then, is\u00a0<em>Honesty of Heart.<\/em><br\/><\/p><cite>WHITEHEAD<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WHEN\u00a0I reflect on the pompous titles bestowed on unworthy men, I feel an indignity that instructs me to despise the absurdity. The\u00a0<em>Honourable<\/em>\u00a0plunderer of his country, or the\u00a0<em>Right Honourable<\/em>\u00a0murderer of mankind, create such a contrast of ideas as exhibit a monster rather than a man. Virtue is inflamed at the violation, and sober reason calls it nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dignities and high sounding names have different effects on different beholders. The lustre of the\u00a0<em>Star<\/em>\u00a0and the title of\u00a0<em>My Lord,<\/em>\u00a0over-awe the superstitious vulgar, and forbid them to inquire into the character of the possessor: Nay more, they are, as it were, bewitched to admire in the great, the vices they would honestly condemn in themselves. This sacrifice of common sense is the certain badge which distinguishes slavery from freedom; for when men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the reasonable freeman sees through the magic of a title, and examines the man before he approves him. To him the honours of the worthless serve to write their masters\u2019 vices in capitals, and their stars shine to no other end than to read them by. The possessors of undue honours are themselves sensible of this; for when their repeated guilt renders their persons unsafe, they disown their rank, and, like glow-worms, extinguish themselves into common reptiles, to avoid discovery. Thus Jeffries sunk into a fisherman, and his master escaped in the habit of a peasant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Modesty forbids men, separately or collectively, to assume titles. But as all honours, even that of Kings, originated from the public, the public may justly be called the fountain of true honour. And it is with much pleasure I have heard the title of\u00a0<em>Honourable<\/em>\u00a0applied to a body of men, who nobly disregarding private ease and interest for public welfare, have justly merited the address of The Honourable Continental Congress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align:right\">VOX\u00a0POPULI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From the\u00a0<em>Pennsylvania Magazine,<\/em>\u00a0May, 1775.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bartleby.com\/184\/109.html\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bartleby.com\/184\/109.html\">The Writings of Thomas Paine<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bartleby.com\/184\/109.html\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ask me what \u2019s honour? I \u2019ll the truth impart:Know, honour then, is\u00a0Honesty of Heart. WHITEHEAD WHEN\u00a0I reflect on the pompous titles bestowed on unworthy men, I feel an indignity that instructs me to despise the absurdity. The\u00a0Honourable\u00a0plunderer of his country, or the\u00a0Right Honourable\u00a0murderer of mankind, create such a contrast of ideas as exhibit a &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tompainetoday.com\/commonsense\/thomas-paines-writings\/pre-1776\/reflections-on-titles\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Reflections on Titles<\/span>Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":112,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-94","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reflections on Titles | Common Sense by Tom Paine Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tompainetoday.com\/commonsense\/thomas-paines-writings\/pre-1776\/reflections-on-titles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reflections on Titles | Common Sense by Tom Paine Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ask me what \u2019s honour? 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