Part First, opening sections
Paine famously charges Burke: 'He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird' — referring to Burke's sympathy for Marie Antoinette while ignoring suffering subjects.
Read in Books4Free →Reply to Burke's Reflections
From Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
Paine's work is framed as a direct refutation of Edmund Burke's defense of inherited authority and tradition, attacking Burke for pitying the plumage but forgetting the dying bird.
Part First, on the Bastille
Paine corrects Burke's portrayal of the storming of the Bastille, defending it as an act against despotism.
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