Coaches Hot Seat NFL Quotes of the Day – Friday, July 5, 2013 – Thomas Paine
Coaches Hot Seat NFL Quotes of the Day – Friday, July 5, 2013 – Thomas Paine
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
And
“Character is much easier kept than recovered.”
And
“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”
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“I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.”
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“One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.”
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“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”
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“That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.”
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“There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord.”
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“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
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“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
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“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
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“We have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.” Common Sense, 1776
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“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” The American Crisis, 1776
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“It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” The American Crisis, 1776
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“The circumstances of the world are continually changing, and the opinions of man change also; and as government is for the living, and not for the dead, it is the living only that has any right in it.” The Rights of Man, 1791
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“It is the nature and intention of a constitution to prevent governing by party, by establishing a common principle that shall limit and control the power and impulse of party, and that says to all parties, thus far shalt thou go and no further. But in the absence of a constitution, men look entirely to party; and instead of principle governing party, party governs principle.” First Principles of Government, 1795
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“I never tire of reading Tom Paine.” Abraham Lincoln, as quoted in A Literary History of the American People, 1931
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“I consider Paine our greatest political thinker. As we have not advanced, and perhaps never shall advance, beyond the Declaration and Constitution, so Paine has had no successors who extended his principles.” Thomas Alva Edison
Wikipedia: Thomas Paine
