| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 43506 |
| QUOTATION: | To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Thomas Paine (1737–1809), Anglo-American political theorist, writer. Common Sense (1778).
Written as part of a series of pamphlets and entitled The American Crisis V and signed Common Sense; essay addressed to Sir William Howe. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| WORKS: | Paine Collection. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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