On the recordJanuary 1, 1776
Nothing but the sharpest essence of villany, compounded with the strongest distillation of folly, could have produced a menstruum that would have effected a separation.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgThomas Paine: “Nothing but the sharpest essence of villany, compounded with the strongest distillation of folly, could have produced a…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine uses a chemical metaphor to describe how only extreme villainy and folly could have caused the separation between America and Britain.
Share
More from Thomas Paine
Jan 1, 1791
But the spirit of the nation was not to be overcome, and it was so fully sensible of the strong ground it had taken--that of withholding taxes--that it contented itself with keeping up a sort of quiet resistance, which effectually…
Jan 1, 1791
The Aristocracy had hitherto opposed the despotism of the Court, and affected the language of patriotism; but it opposed it as its rival (as the English Barons opposed King John) and it now opposed the nation from the same motives.
Jan 1, 1791
A knowledge of the practice was then joined to the theory; and all that was wanting to give it real existence was opportunity.
Jan 1, 1791
The object is not so much the produce of the tax as the justice of the measure.