THOMAS PAINE ON EUCLID

“I know, however, but of one ancient book that authoritatively challenges universal consent and belief, and that is ‘Euclid’s Elements of Geometry;* and the reason is, because it is a book of self-evident demonstration, entirely independent of its author, and of everything relating to time, place, circumstance. The matters contained in this book would have the same authority they now have, had they been written by another person, or had the work been anonymous, or had the author never been known; for the identical certainty of who was the author, makes no part of our belief of the matters contained in this book.” *[Euclid, according to chronological history, lived three hundred years before Christ, and about one hundred years before Archimedes; he was of the city of Alexandria in Egypt.] P.69, “Part Two,” AGE OF REASON by Thomas Paine (2014)