All 21 Uses of

principle
in
Common Sense, by Thomas Paine

Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are interested.†
Chpt Intr

principles = basic rules or beliefs

Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle.†
Chpt Intr *

principle = basic rule or belief

I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz.†
Chpt 1.

Yet his electors could have no idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and unrestrained principles they professed to live by.†
Chpt 2.

principles = basic rules or beliefs

As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but right, that we should examine the contrary side of the argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with, and dependent on Great Britain: To examine that connection and dependence, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant.†
Chpt 3.

Holland and Switzerland are without wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprising ruffians at HOME; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers, in instances, where a republican government, by being formed on more natural principles, would negotiate the mistake.†
Chpt 3.

In this conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business KNOWLEDGE and POWER.†
Chpt 3.

As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith, Let a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, and he will be at delivered of his fears on that head.†
Chpt 4.

principle = basic rule or belief

Were we all of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter for probation; and on this liberal principle, I look on the various denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, differing only, in what is called, their Christian names.†
Chpt 4.

And the Speech, instead of terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of Independance.†
Chpt Appe

principles = basic rules or beliefs

To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the late piece, entitled "THE ANCIENT TESTIMONY and PRINCIPLES of the People called QUAKERS renewed, with Respect to the KING and GOVERNMENT, and touching the COMMOTIONS now prevailing in these and other parts of AMERICA addressed to the PEOPLE IN GENERAL."†
Chpt Appe

Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to you as a religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which the professed Quietude of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with.†
Chpt Appe

As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of this, in order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity, of putting himself in the place of all those, who, approve the very writings and principles, against which, your testimony is directed: And he hath chosen this singular situation, in order, that you might discover in him that presumption of character which you cannot see in yourselves.†
Chpt Appe

It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called to profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences unto this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and governments, is God's peculiar prerogative;†
Chpt Appe

principle = basic rule or belief

UNDER THE GOVERNMENT WHICH GOD IS PLEASED TO SET OVER US"—If these are REALLY your principles why do ye not abide by them?†
Chpt Appe

principles = basic rules or beliefs

These very principles instruct you to wait with patience and humility, for the event of all public measures, and to receive that event as the divine will towards you.†
Chpt Appe

The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government WHICH IS SET OVER HIM.†
Chpt Appe

And if the setting up and putting down of kings and governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not be robbed thereof by us: wherefore, the principle itself leads you to approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to kings as being his work.†
Chpt Appe

principle = basic rule or belief

and unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove, that the Almighty who hath created and placed this new world, at the greatest distance it could possibly stand, east and west, from every part of the old, doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being independent of the corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless I say, ye can shew this, how can ye on the ground of your principles, justify the exciting and stirring up the people "firmly to unite in the abhorrence of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire and design to break off the happy connexion we have hitherto enjoyed, with the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just and necessary subordination to the king, and those w†
Chpt Appe

principles = basic rules or beliefs

the men, who in the very paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up the ordering, altering, and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands of God, are now, recalling their principles, and putting in for a share of the business.†
Chpt Appe

Definitions:

(1) (principle)
a basic rule or belief
The exact meaning of principle can depend upon its context. For example:
- "our guiding principles" -- basic moral beliefs that guide decisions and behavior
- "electromagnetic principles" -- rules describing how the world works
- "She lacks principles." -- lacks moral guidelines
- "We agree in principle." -- about important basic beliefs
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

See a comprehensive dictionary for more specialized senses including one in chemistry.